Test scores aren’t only measure of student success

Kids are surviving a pandemic too – and learning more than abCs

Yuma School District One recently discussed its midyear test scores and assessments, and it was a little bit of a good news/bad news situation.

The good news is, students are progressing in their learning. The Galileo assessments in English language arts and math revealed incremental growth in those subjects.

And when it comes to science, students did “quite well,” the district said.

However, the district opted to not release the test results to the public, noting that while students are growing, they aren’t where they would be in a normal year.

We’re not real thrilled with the lack of transparency on the subject. The scores should be released, because scores help give context to what students are experiencing.

However, we also have to weigh the fact that test scores are an imperfect measure for a variety of reasons.

Test scores are simply a snapshot of a student’s performance on any given day. They don’t account for the outside factors and influences that could have impacted that child in the process. Maybe he didn’t have breakfast. Or maybe she was upset about a situation at home, and didn’t give that test 100%. Test scores are always impacted by such factors, and as such, need to be taken with a grain of salt, so to speak.

We also need to remember that our students are in the midst of surviving a pandemic. They might not hit all the benchmarks for this school year. But they are surviving a situation that we’ve never encountered before. These times are unprecedented, but students and teachers are rolling with it.

At some point, every one of these kids will be back in the classroom. Learning will resume at a breakneck pace, and these students will move forward.

Lessons have been learned over the last year in ways we cannot imagine as families navigated these waters. It’s more than the ABCs, math, reading and science. They are learning to be resilient and independent, too. We can’t lose sight of that.

But for now, let’s give these students – and their teachers – a bit of grace here. Give them the tools they need to get back to the classrooms, give them 100% of the support they need, and let’s help them find success going forward.

Unsigned editorials represent the viewpoint of this newspaper rather than an individual. Columns and letters to the editor represent the viewpoints of the persons writing them and do not necessarily represent the views of the Yuma Sun.