PSD joins new testing program

♦ Changes in student assessments sought to catch learning lag earlier

A change in how student learning is evaluated locally is starting this year with Polk School District’s inclusion in a new pilot program that looks to phase out the Georgia Milestones standardized test.

Instead, they’re joining nine other districts in the state who are moving to the Georgia MAP Assessment and PSD is now part of a partnership in a pilot program and joins Barrow County School System, Clayton County Public Schools, Floyd County Schools, Jackson County Schools, Jasper County Charter System, and Marietta City Schools.

Superintendent Laurie Atkins said the program is moving ahead and they’re only waiting for further U.S. Department of Education approval to fully implement it across all subjects.

If the Georgia MAP Assessment Partnership is chosen, the ten districts listed above will begin the pilot assessment with a gradual phase-out of the Georgia Milestones Assessment Program by 2020.

“Polk School District is excited to be a part of this innovative pilot. Our elementary and middle schools are already using MAP as our benchmark assessment program,” Atkins said in a press release last week. “These benchmark assessments allow our educators to focus on individual needs for our students in a timely manner. Currently the state-mandated tests, which are administered in April and May, do not provide us with the information we need until the next school year.”

The problem isn’t testing students to see where their academic progress lies. The real issue school officials have with the Georgia Milestones is the lag in results.

So for instance, if Student A is retaining the information they are receiving in all of their subjects without showing any signs in testing of academic struggles, school officials know that student is making annual progress with their grade level.

When however Student B lags behind in a subject like mathematics, educators under the Georgia Milestones testing protocols are not fully seeing the depth of their pupils lack of progress until after they have already moved up to the next grade level and are out of their classroom, and have an even harder time catching up with the rest of their pupils.

“MAP allows our teachers to have instant feedback to adjust, adapt, and realign lessons for our students, as well as have more insight into the success of their instruction,” Atkins said. “MAP, as opposed to Georgia Milestones, affords our students more opportunities to prove their mastery of the content throughout the school year instead of waiting until April and May.”

The MAP benchmark tests are administered three times a year; August, January, and May, with each benchmark test taking approximately one hour, as opposed to an entire week lost to the Georgia Milestones Assessment Program in the spring, and additional class time taken up in the months leading up to the standardized test to give students opportunity to prepare for some of the questions they’ll face.

Fixing this problem is a top priority for Polk School District, who this year begins the pilot program with a dual-testing procedure.

Students will still take the Georgia Milestones assessment this spring, but they’ll also be phasing in the new Georgia MAP assessment in mathematics first, then additional subjects will be included once approval from Federal officials gives the pilot program a green light.

For the pilot, the GMAP will partner with nonprofit organization named NWEA, who will provide the Measure of Academic Progress Test (MAP) in order to create a single assessment system that uses adaptive assessments administered in fall, winter, and spring to yield growth data, instructionally relevant insights, and proficiency scores.

“We applaud the Georgia state board of education for taking advantage of the opportunities for innovative assessments that ESSA has provided, and the district leaders for working together to make assessments better for students,” said Chris Minnich, CEO, NWEA in last week’s press release on the new testing policy. “We look forward to partnering to create an innovative solution that supports high quality educational decisions, meets accessibility standards, and fulfills accountability requirements.”