In the three years since Pennsylvania overhauled its high school graduation requirements, Philadelphia students have increasingly graduated without passing state exams.

Instead, students last year were most likely to graduate by fulfilling alternate requirements, according to .

All students still must earn a certain number of course credits. But they can meet additional graduation requirements by being accepted into a four-year college, earning a certain score on career and technical education exams or SATs, and showing 鈥渆vidence鈥� that they鈥檙e prepared for college or jobs, among other options.

The change has been fast. The Class of 2023 was the first to graduate via the new system. Since then, the portion of Philly students who graduated by meeting certain score thresholds for their state exams dropped from more than 50% to around a third.

But lawmakers and state officials have published little follow-up that examines whether the shift has left young Pennsylvanians more or less prepared for their futures.

Pennsylvania Department of Education spokesperson Erin James said in a statement that it is 鈥渄ifficult to correlate graduation pathways with other postsecondary metrics鈥� because it is hard to track students after high school. Researchers partnering with the district in Philadelphia say understanding the impact of the new system in the city will likely take years.

Since the switch, one alternative pathway to graduation has ballooned in popularity: submitting industry-recognized credentials. That鈥檚 a broad term used to describe certifications that are sought after by certain sectors, like medical assistant credentials, emergency first aid certifications, and auto mechanic qualifications.

Last school year, more than 3,400 Philly students 鈥� around 40% of those who had completed enough credits that made them eligible to graduate 鈥� submitted at least one industry-recognized credential to graduate. Some submitted them exclusively.

Neither the district nor the state publish a list of which credentials students are using to fulfill this requirement.

When then-Gov. Tom Wolf signed the new graduation requirements into law in 2018, he that the aim was to give students 鈥渟everal options to demonstrate what they鈥檝e learned and that they鈥檙e ready to graduate from high school to start a career or continue their education.鈥�

The move permanently did away with the legislature鈥檚 previous plan to make passing the Keystones a requirement to graduate.

鈥淗ow a student does on high stakes tests is not a useful way to decide if someone is ready to graduate from high school,鈥� Wolf said at the time.

Yet amid the booming number of students earning industry-recognized credentials in Philadelphia and nationwide, some researchers worry that there isn鈥檛 enough evidence that they鈥檙e all useful.

鈥淚t鈥檚 great to have an alternative option, because there just are going to be some kids who aren鈥檛 going to go to college,鈥� said Jay Plasman, a professor at The Ohio State University who has studied how earning credentials affects student outcomes. 鈥淭he problem is not all credentials are created equally.鈥�

Earning credentials is part of what鈥檚 called the 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� pathway to graduation. It requires students to submit three pieces of 鈥渆vidence鈥� from a pre-approved state list. Credentials count as evidence, as does being accepted into a two-year college; attaining a guarantee of full-time employment; earning a college-level course credit; achieving certain AP, IB, or SAT scores; and other options.

There are a total of 12 evidence options. Submitting credentials is the most popular one by far.

The state鈥檚 includes everything from certifications for barbers and child care workers to credentials related to Microsoft Office and ladder safety. Experts warn it鈥檚 important that states carefully review credentials to ensure they鈥檙e valuable to students and can lead to good jobs.

Philadelphia offers credentials from a subset of the state鈥檚 list, along with additional options based on student interest and industry recommendations for students graduating via the 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� pathway, according to district Executive Director of Career and Technical Education Michelle Armstrong.

It鈥檚 unclear which credentials are most popular among students, given the lack of public data about them.

The district鈥檚 graduation rate has risen in recent years, with more than 77% of students graduating within four years in the 2023-24 school year, the most recent year of data available.

Obtaining a high school diploma is valuable, and researchers have found that those who graduate high school are likely to earn more and live longer than those without.

But the increase comes as Philly students鈥� achievement on some state exams . Last year, Keystone. Even fewer achieved proficient scores in algebra and biology.

Alyn Turner, co-director of the Philadelphia Education Research Consortium, which partners with the district, said her team is working to analyze which pathways students are accessing and what evidence they鈥檙e using to fulfill requirements. But she said the larger question of whether students are more prepared for jobs or college is still unknown.

鈥淭he extent to which this policy is supportive of that, or adding additional barriers to that, we just don鈥檛 know,鈥� Turner said.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Illinois education officials are considering lowering the scores students need to get to be classified as proficient in a subject on a state standardized test.

They say the current benchmarks are too high and the results often don鈥檛 accurately reflect whether high school students are college and career ready.

鈥淥ur system unfairly mislabels students as 鈥榥ot proficient鈥� when other data 鈥� such as success in advanced coursework and enrollment in college 鈥� tell a very different story,鈥� state schools chief Tony Sanders to school leaders this week.

The Illinois State Board of Education agreed Wednesday to move ahead with a process to change the state鈥檚 testing system, though the exact details still are being worked out. That process will include creating new 鈥渃ut scores,鈥� or the lowest score needed for a student to be sorted into broad categories of achievement on state assessments.

If approved in August, the new cut scores would be applied to the tests taken by students this spring and reported publicly in October. The changes are likely to send the public a very different message about how students are doing on reading and math tests.

Proposed changes to the state鈥檚 testing system come at a time when schools in Illinois and around the country are still dealing with the academic fallout of the COVID pandemic. Other states, including Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Alaska, and New York, have made similar changes to their testing systems, according to 社区黑料.

Third to eighth graders in Illinois last year 鈥� even exceeding proficiency levels pre-pandemic 鈥� but math scores still lagged behind past years, according to the state鈥檚 2024 report card. .

State officials acknowledged Wednesday that it would be difficult to compare proficiency rates on the October 2025 report card to previous years if the benchmarks are lowered. The move would likely result in more students across the state being considered proficient on state standardized exams. For instance, if a test has 1,000 possible points a student can score and last year a student needed to score 700 or above to be considered proficient and they scored 680, but the following year the cut score moved to 650 that student would be considered proficient.

Sanders argued, however, that changes to the state鈥檚 testing system are long overdue.

In his message to school leaders this week, he said the state鈥檚 current benchmarks are some of the highest in the nation. He pointed to a by the National Center for Education Statistics that looked at how state accountability systems match up to NAEP, a national exam given periodically to a representative sample of American students in fourth and eighth grade. Illinois was among the states whose cut scores aligned with higher levels of performance on the national exam.

Sanders said in an interview with Chalkbeat that the cut scores for the college entrance exam have been higher than what the College Board, an organization that created and administers the SAT and Advanced Placement courses and exams, recommended as 鈥渃ollege ready鈥� on the SAT test in previous years 鈥� and that 鈥渋t just does not make sense.鈥�

鈥淲hen we look at how actual students are performing, we have so many examples of kids who have graduated, gone on to college, and persisted and been successful in college, yet, if they made decisions in their life based on the data that we gave them, they would never have gone to college,鈥� said Sanders.

Given that Illinois switched the high school test to the ACT, Sanders said the state board wants to ensure scores on the October 2025 report card accurately reflect where students are.

In changing the state鈥檚 testing system, state officials said they are aiming for greater 鈥渃oherence鈥� between assessments. Currently, there are different for the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, an exam taken by students in third to eighth grade in reading and math, the Illinois Science Assessment, taken by students in fifth, eighth, and 11th grades, and the high school college entrance exam, taken by students in 11th grade.

State officials also noted in from Wednesday鈥檚 board meeting that the state鈥檚 , or what students are expected to learn, would not change.

Jennifer Kirmes, director of policy at Advance Illinois, a nonprofit statewide advocacy organization, said that she believes there was a real call for change from school leaders, especially those teaching high school students, because some students were excelling in advanced classes but were classified as not proficient on state standardized tests.

鈥淏ut in fact, those students have lots of other indicators that they are, in fact, college and career ready, which is ultimately what we鈥檙e trying to measure at the high school level,鈥� said Kirmes. 鈥淭hey might have taken and passed several AP courses and exams, they might have dual credit.鈥�

Kirmes said getting proficiency levels right matters because schools are judged based on the results of standardized exams. In Illinois, schools as Exemplary, Commendable, Targeted, Comprehensive, and Intensive. Based on what a school is labeled can determine what resources and support they will receive from the state. Federal law provide summative designations to schools based on students鈥� test scores since the early 2000s. Sanders also told Chalkbeat that the state is working on changing the school accountability system for 2026.

Educators, testing experts, and advocates have mixed feelings about changing the state鈥檚 assessment standards. Some worry the new changes will not have any significant effect on teaching and students鈥� learning.

Monique Redeaux-Smith, from the Illinois Federation of Teachers, one of the state鈥檚 largest teacher unions, said the union is not opposed to changing the cut scores, but they are concerned about the weight placed on state standardized assessments. The tests don鈥檛 provide enough information for teachers about where students might need a helping hand, she said.

鈥淲hat teachers do in the classroom is more valuable because they鈥檙e actually seeing students explain. They鈥檙e actually seeing students show their work. They鈥檙e actually able to see where students might be getting stuck in their understanding,鈥� said Redeaux-Smith.

Paul Zavitkovsky, instructor and leadership coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago, said he doesn鈥檛 think the changes will affect student learning if teachers are not given good information from the tests.

鈥淯ntil we start reporting information from whatever kind of testing we do in a way that teachers, school level people look at and go, 鈥� 鈥楾his is much more useful in terms of helping me better understand what I am and am not doing well,鈥欌�� said Zavitkovsky.

In response to the criticism, Sanders said in an interview with Chalkbeat that state assessments are meant to generate the state report card and show how Illinois is performing. But he agrees that state assessments 鈥渨ill likely never be a useful tool to teachers to be able to improve their teaching.鈥�

The Illinois State Board of Education is hosting listening tours around the state for school leaders, educators, parents, students, and others interested in changes to the state assessments. The next one will take place at the Chicago World Language Academy.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.聽Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

Jill Norton, an education policy adviser in Massachusetts, has a teenage son with dyslexia and ADHD. Shelley Scruggs, an electrical engineer in the same state, also has a teenage son with ADHD. Both students go to the same technical high school.

But this fall, Norton and Scruggs advocated on opposite sides of a Massachusetts ballot referendum scrapping the requirement that high school kids pass a standardized state test to graduate.

Norton argued that without the high bar of the standard exam, kids like hers won鈥檛 have an incentive to strive. But Scruggs maintained that kids with learning disorders also need different types of measurements than standardized tests to qualify for a high school diploma.

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter

Voters last month approved the referendum, 59% to 41%, ending the Massachusetts requirement. There and in most other states, Scruggs鈥� position against testing is carrying the day.

Just seven states now require students to pass a test to graduate, and one of those 鈥� New York 鈥� will end its Regents Exam as a requirement by the 2027-28 school year. Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Virginia still require testing to graduate, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a group that opposes such mandates.

In Massachusetts, teachers unions favored getting rid of the exam as a graduation requirement. They argued it forced them to teach certain facts at the expense of in-depth or more practical learning. But many business leaders were in favor of keeping the test, arguing that without it, they will have no guarantee that job applicants with high school diplomas possess basic skills.

State by state, graduation tests have tumbled over the past decade. In 2012, half the states required the tests, but that number fell to 13 states in 2019, . The trend accelerated during the pandemic, when many school districts scrapped the tests during remote learning and some decided to permanently extend test exemptions.

Studies have found that such graduation exams disadvantage students with learning disabilities as well as English language learners, and that they aren鈥檛 always a good predictor of success in careers or higher education.

An oft-cited 2010 by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin may have ignited the trend to scrap the tests. Researchers鈥� review of 46 earlier studies found that high school exit exams 鈥減roduced few of the expected benefits and have been associated with costs for the most disadvantaged students.鈥�

Some states began to find other ways to assess high school competency, such as grades in mandatory courses, capstone projects or technical milestones.

鈥淢inimum competency tests in the 1980s drove the idea that we need to make sure that students who graduate from high school have the bare minimum of skills,鈥� said John Papay, an associate professor of education at Brown University. 鈥淏y the mid-2000s, there was a reaction against standardized testing and a movement away from these exams. They disappeared during the pandemic and that led to these tests going away.鈥�

Despite the problems with the tests for English learners and students with learning disabilities, Papay said, the tests are 鈥渟trong predictors of long-term outcomes. Students who do better on the tests go on to graduate [from] college and they earn more.鈥�

Papay, who remains neutral on whether the tests should be required, pointed out that high school students usually have many opportunities to retake the tests and to appeal their scores.

Anne Hyslop, director of policy development at All4Ed, a think tank and advocacy group for underserved communities, noted that in many states, the testing requirements were replaced by other measures.

The schools 鈥渟till require some students or all students to demonstrate competency to graduate, but students have many more options on how they could do that. They can pass a dual credit [high school/college] course, pass industry recognized competency tests. 鈥�

鈥淎 lot of states still have assessments as part of their graduation requirements, but in a much broader form,鈥� she said.

Massachusetts moves

Scruggs said her son took Massachusetts鈥� required exam last spring; he passed the science and math portions but fell 1 point short in English.

鈥淗e could do well in his classes, but if he didn鈥檛 pass the three tests, he wouldn鈥檛 get his regular diploma,鈥� Scruggs said. 鈥淗ow do you go out into the working world, and you went to school every day and passed your classes, but got no diploma?鈥�

Her son has taken the English test again and is awaiting his new score, she said.

Norton, by contrast, said the exam, called the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, gave her son an incentive to work hard.

鈥淚 worry that kids like him 鈥� are going to end up graduating from high school without the skills they will need,鈥� Norton said. 鈥淲ithout the test, they will just be passed along. I can鈥檛 just trust that my kid is getting the basic level of what he needs. I need a bar set where he will get the level of education he needs.鈥�

Students in Massachusetts still will have to take the MCAS in their sophomore year of high school, and the scores will be used to assess their overall learning. But failing the test won鈥檛 be a barrier to graduation beginning with the class of 2025. The state is still debating how 鈥� or whether 鈥� to replace the MCAS with other types of required courses, evaluations or measurements.

High school students in Massachusetts and most states still have to satisfy other graduation requirements, which usually include four years of English and a number of other core subjects such as mathematics, sciences and social studies. Those requirements vary widely across the country, however, as most are set by individual school districts.

In New York, the State Education Department in 2019 began a multiyear process of rethinking high school graduation requirements and the Regents Exam. The department decided last month to phase out the exit exam and replace it with something called a 鈥淧ortrait of a Graduate,鈥� including seven areas of study in which a student must establish proficiency. Credit options include capstone projects, work-based learning experiences and internships, as well as academic achievement. Several other states have moved recently to a similar approach.

Harry Feder, executive director of FairTest, an advocacy group that works to limit standardized testing, said course grades do a better job of assessing students鈥� abilities.

鈥淪tandardized tests are poor ways of incentivizing and measuring the kinds of skills and knowledge we should have high school kids focusing on,鈥� Feder said. 鈥淵ou get 鈥榯eaching to the test鈥� that doesn鈥檛 bear much of a relationship to the kinds of things that kids are being asked to do when they go on to college or the workplace.鈥�

Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association union, said phrases such as 鈥渢eaching to the test鈥� disrespect teachers and their ability to know when students have mastered content and competency. The high school tests are first taken in the 10th grade in Massachusetts. If the kids don鈥檛 pass, they can retake the exam in the 11th or 12th grade.

鈥淓ducators are still evaluating students,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a mirage to say that everything that a student does in education can be measured by a standardized test in the 10th grade. Education, of course, goes through the 12th grade.鈥�

He added that course grades are still a good predictor of how much a student knows.

Colorado鈥檚 menu

Several of the experts and groups on both sides of the debate point to Colorado as a blueprint for how to move away from graduation test requirements.

Colorado, which made the switch with the graduating class of 2021, now allows school districts to choose from a menu of assessment techniques, such as SAT or ACT scores, or demonstration of workforce readiness in various skill areas.

A state task force created by the legislature recently to the education accreditation system to 鈥渂etter reflect diverse student needs and smaller school populations.鈥� They include creating assessments that adapt to student needs, offering multilingual options, and providing quicker results to understand student progress.

The state hopes the menu of assessment options will support local flexibility, said Danielle Ongart, assistant commissioner for student pathways and engagement at the Colorado Department of Education.

鈥淒epending on what the student wants for themselves, they have the ability to show what they know,鈥� she said in an interview. In particular, she said, the menu allows for industry certificates, if a student knows what type of work they want to do. That includes areas such as computer science or quantum computing.

鈥淚t allows students to better understand themselves and explain what they can do, what they are good at, and what they want to do,鈥� she said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on and .

SPRINGFIELD 鈥� When Illinois high school students sit down to take their annual state assessments next year, they will take a different exam than in recent years.

The Illinois State Board of Education recently announced that starting next spring, it will use the ACT exam rather than the SAT.

Both are standardized tests that measure students鈥� proficiency in core subjects such as English language arts and math. Both are also commonly used for college admissions 鈥� although many colleges and universities have stopped requiring them 鈥� as well as scholarship applications.

Illinois, however, also uses them as part of the battery of tests schools administer each year to meet federal mandates under the . Results of those tests are reported each year on the  and are used to hold schools and districts accountable for meeting basic academic standards.

Illinois started using the  as the state assessment for 11^th grade students in spring 2017. Two years later, it began using the PSAT 8/9 exam for 9^th grade students and the PSAT 10 for high school sophomores.

At the time, , incorporating a college entrance exam into the state鈥檚 annual assessment program was considered a bonus because it gave nearly all graduating high school students a reportable score, paid for by the state, which they could then use for college and scholarship applications.

In recent years, though, many colleges and universities stopped requiring either the SAT or ACT as part of their application and admission processes. 

In 2021, Illinois lawmakers passed the  requiring all public universities and community colleges to adopt a 鈥渢est-optional鈥� policy for admissions, meaning students could voluntarily choose whether to include them in their application package. But ISBE continued using the tests as part of its federally mandated statewide assessments.

The upcoming switch to the ACT exam came about through ISBE鈥檚 routine procurement process. The agency鈥檚 contract with the College Board, the nonprofit corporation that operates the SAT, was set to expire on June 30, prompting the agency to open a new bidding process.

The state board agreed to open the bidding process and solicit sealed proposals from testing companies at its regular monthly meeting in September 2023. The decision to award a six-year, $53 million contract to ACT was finalized in May.

According to an  that ISBE has circulated, one of the advantages of switching exams is the ACT includes a science component, whereas the SAT only covered the core subjects of reading, writing and math. That means 11^th grade students will no longer have to take a separate Illinois Science Assessment, thereby reducing overall testing time.

The change also means that students who still want to take the SAT or the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test will have to do so on their own, in addition to the statewide ACT accountability exam. Local schools and districts will have the option of choosing whether to administer those tests during the school day, but the state will not pay for students to take those tests.

 is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

Concerned about lowering standards in Florida鈥檚 public high schools, the state House on Thursday voted to stick with the original requirements: Teens must pass statewide Algebra 1 and 10th grade English Language Arts exams to be able to get their diplomas.

The Senate would have to vote on the legislation.

During the first week of this year鈥檚 legislative session, the Senate passed a package of bills aimed at 鈥渄eregulating鈥� Florida public schools through measures such as removing Algebra I and 10th grade ELA exams from the graduation requirements in Florida.

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 社区黑料 Newsletter

That became controversial, with House Speaker Paul Renner vehemently opposed to easing the graduation requirements. Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy of Port St. Lucie, who sponsored the education deregulation bill in the House, took the same stance as Renner, meaning, leaving Algebra 1 and ELA 10 graduation requirements intact.

Maintaining standards

鈥淚 feel like lowering the standards can disproportionately affect students from disadvantaged backgrounds and all students as it may lessen the pressure on schools to provide high-quality education to all students regardless of their socio-economic status,鈥� Trabulsy said on the House floor. 鈥淚n Florida, high standards of education help ensure that students will be adequately prepared for their future, so lowering our standards here is just absolutely not an option, in my opinion.鈥�

Although the bill received bipartisan support, Democratic Rep. Robin Bartleman of Broward County said she hoped some of the provisions, such as removing the graduation requirements, get added back to the bill.

鈥淭he Senate removes the barrier to high school graduation from passing a standardized test in ELA and math. This is really important because a lot of kids have testing anxiety and are not good test takers,鈥� Bartleman said. 鈥淚 personally know one girl who struggled and struggled, ruined her whole senior year 鈥� seeing someone to deal with her anxiety, and it was just to pass up high stakes tests.鈥�

Other opponents 鈥� such as the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), the education think tank founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush 鈥� say allowing students to graduate, even if they don鈥檛 pass the Algebra I and 10th grade ELA exams, would decrease the value of high school diplomas.

鈥淔lorida has long been a leader in maintaining high standards, strong accountability and robust choice in education. That鈥檚 why copying states like Oregon, New York and New Jersey in rolling back student expectations would have been the wrong way for Florida to go. We鈥檙e happy the House rejected these elements of the Senate鈥檚 proposal,鈥� wrote Patricia Levesque, CEO of ExcelinEd and executive director of the Foundation for Florida鈥檚 Future, in a statement.

On the other hand, people in favor of removing high-stakes tests say a single exam doesn鈥檛 reflect students鈥� knowledge.

鈥淲e should be focused on teacher and learning and not high-stakes testing. Testing had a role in helping inform teachers in their instructions, but using tests in a punitive way does not help student learning,鈥� Florida Education Association president Andrew Spar wrote to the Florida Phoenix.

Book challenge fees

Originally, Trabulsy鈥檚 education deregulation bill included a $100 鈥減rocessing fee鈥� on subsequent challenges filed by anyone who鈥檚 already filed five unmerited challenges in a district where he or she doesn鈥檛 have a child enrolled. She wiped the fee or any other restriction on book bans from the bill because another bill () the House passed last week included the same fee. HB 1285 is still pending Senate approval.

Renner and told reporters on Wednesday that they supported efforts to reduce book challenges.

Additionally, parents of students in kindergarten through 2nd grade must have an opportunity to provide input about the decision to retain their kids at their current grade level if they are not proficient in ELA and math.

The deregulation bills have been largely watered down from when lawmakers started talking about the proposals in November. Previously, senators wanted to allow parents to decide whether their 3rd grade student would be held back if they couldn鈥檛 read and to allow schools to provide 100 minutes of recess over a week rather than the existing mandate of 20 minutes every day.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on and .

In a November , Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona encouraged chief state school officers to rethink state assessment programs and offered guidance on how to do it using the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority. This program, tucked into the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, allows approved states to pilot new assessment approaches and to scale them statewide over time.  

Although the authority has been around for nearly a decade, many chiefs have shrugged it off as irrelevant 鈥� having too many requirements, affording too little time and providing no additional funding for exploring new methods of assessment. Only a few states have bothered to apply; of those, some were not selected, and two that were felt and dropped out. 

But in Cardona鈥檚 letter, we see a fresh federal desire to support states with assessment innovation, through the authority or otherwise. And that matters if states are to finally create to measure learning and report progress that is relevant and meaningful 鈥� not just to federal policymakers, but also to educators, students and families. 

Two things stood out to us. In addition to clarifying flexibilities in some of the technical requirements, the letter encourages chiefs to enter planning status with the department before submitting a formal application, and to pursue funding through other federal programs.

Combined with other indications, like the recent permitting Montana to pilot a program that administers smaller tests throughout the year instead of the current end-of-year assessment, the department is signaling that it wants to make assessment reform more feasible. 

How might state leaders seize the moment? We suggest four steps:

First, take the pulse of impacted communities.

State leaders should begin by understanding how people at different levels of the education system see the benefits and drawbacks of current assessment and accountability methods. It鈥檚 important to know who favors change (and who doesn鈥檛) and to address concerns early on. 

Chiefs could do this through familiar methods like listening tours and town hall meetings, or go a step further to create design teams of students, parents, community advocates, educators and technical experts. Smart partnerships with organizations that convene and build the skills of district leaders, school leaders and educators; research institutions; research institutions; and leaders from the governor鈥檚 office, legislature and state Board of Education can also support assessment design and implementation.

Kentucky is one state that has successfully pursued this approach. After leading a Commissioner鈥檚 Listening Tour, Kentucky partnered with the Center for Innovation in Education to launch a tasked with co-creating a new vision for education. 

Engaging many parties to collaboratively design new assessment and accountability models helps build public and political will for change. People begin to support a new system when they see their needs and concerns represented in it 鈥� or, at least, when they feel listened to and understand the rationale for inevitable compromises.

Second, start a dialogue with the U.S. Department of Education.

Once state leaders have engaged design collaborators, they should reach out to the department to start a dialogue about their ideas. Then, they should make a formal request to enter planning status. Cardona鈥檚 letter clarifies that states can do this even if their vision for innovative assessments 鈥� and with it, their formal intention to apply to the authority 鈥� is still emerging. We see planning status as a low-stakes arrangement that states can request without having to complete a full proposal.

In this way, states can receive feedback on their nascent assessment designs. And, while non-binding, planning status can confer some formality to a state鈥檚 intentions, which can help garner support and funding back home.

Third, states should leverage other federal programs for funding.

Cardona鈥檚 letter suggests that states don鈥檛 have to fund assessment innovation entirely on their own; instead, it invites leaders to consider other federal funding sources, particularly the Competitive Grants for State Assessments program. Kentucky is one state that’s using program funds received in 2022 to design a new model for school and district accountability based on what it learns from districts that are piloting competency-based assessments of learning. The new state system that emerges may become codified in a future application. 

Other federal grant programs, such as school improvement funds in Title I, may be even more useful in supporting local engagement in assessment innovation, as this money could be used in pre-planning and preparing to apply to the grant program.

Fourth, they should seek federal flexibility.

It鈥檚 true that states can layer new tests on top of federally mandated assessments without needing federal approval, or just charge ahead and ask forgiveness later. But we believe there鈥檚 now a more viable path toward having conversations about innovation out in the open. That鈥檚 how states can create a single that generates information useful for state-level oversight while adding value to teaching and learning in the classroom.

State education leaders should move quickly, if they haven鈥檛 already started. They need to hit the ground running and start engaging communities across the state, gathering eager innovators, listening to myriad perspectives and learning from one another. Windows of opportunity can open and close as supporters move in and out of positions of influence, but a groundswell of local demand is hard to ignore. 

We have seen how bold, sustained leadership that is informed and supported by changemakers on the ground can convince federal authorities to give something new a try. New Hampshire proved that in 2015 with its for the Performance Assessment of Competency Education pilot, and we think the department is even more open-minded today. 

One thing is certain: State education leaders can鈥檛 stand still. They must heed the department’s strong signals 鈥� and put them to the test.