Dive Brief:
- The removal of a popular principal at Randolph Elementary School in Arlington, VA, has drawn protests from parents and a conversation about how best to assess student progress in high-poverty districts.
- The Washington Post reports Renee Bostick oversaw moderate increases in student performance on state standardized tests as principal of Randolph, but the school continues to lag behind the district, in part because of its high number of English language learners and students from low-income families.
- Extensive test prep at another high-poverty school paid off with significantly better test scores, but parents at Randolph appreciated Bostick’s insistence that student improvement should be assessed with more than just numbers.
Dive Insight:
Schools in high-poverty districts are under great pressure to improve student achievement and fulfill the promise that the United States education system can serve as the great equalizer across race, class and ability. But when the measure of achievement is standardized test scores and high-poverty districts work to improve those numbers, they routinely focus on drilling reading and math skills that will help students test well. Opponents of this strategy argue the students are being taught how to take tests, rather than how to learn or think critically. This is why, when tests change — like they did with new Common Core-aligned exams — these students’ test scores drop farther, reflecting a learning gap in schools along with an achievement gap.
Yet the implementation of annual tests for all students with No Child Left Behind did create an urgency to pay attention to everyone. No longer were schools allowed to ignore certain populations after deciding they could not be taught. The Every Student Succeeds Act may provide schools the flexibility needed to discover a new balance.