Monroe County Students Will Not Take Acuity Test Next Year

The number of standardized tests a student takes each year has grown larger across the country – and so has distaste for the practice.

But one southern Indiana school district is ready to whittle down their testing schedule.

Indiana students take a number of tests that are either summative or formative in nature. (Photo Credit: David Hartman/Flickr)

Among the various tests Hoosier students take each year, some are “summative” – to capture how much a student learned over the course of a year, like the statewide ISTEP+ test – and others are “formative,” which give a snapshot of what students know at a certain point in time. The focus of the latter is giving performance feedback, so teachers can modify learning activities to better student achievement.

Most of the schools in the state use tests like mCLASS, Acuity or NWEA assessments for that purpose.

As we’ve reported, this month the State Board of Education decided schools may choose their own formative assessment. This came out of a condition in the state’s new two-year budget.

Rather than require schools to test using mCLASS (grades K-2) or Acuity (grades 3-8), both of which the state pays for, schools will now be able to apply for state grant money to buy a test of their own choosing. Districts previously had to pay for the test out of their own budgets.

The board will likely decide how much grant money schools can receive for tests at their July meeting.

Mary Keck of the Herald-Times reports that the Monroe County Community School Corporation has chosen not to pursue any outside formative test for the upcoming school year, instead focusing on classroom tests:

“We are not going to self-impose a test that we don’t feel is aligned with the (state education) standards,” [MCCSC Superintendent Judy] DeMuth said.

Monroe County Community School Corp. opted to take the Acuity test in the 2014-15 school year because it was offered free through the Indiana Department of Education as a diagnostic tool for schools to find out if student learning was in line with state standards. […]

DeMuth decided that because the state education department was in the process of developing the ISTEP test for the next school year, she wanted to be sure the exams students were given were aligned with state standards.

“We’re going to pause (Acuity) and allow teachers to continue instruction rather than administration of a test,” DeMuth said.

While students will not take Acuity, faculty will continue to follow state standards, skills the education department has determined are necessary for students to learn at each grade level. MCCSC elementary and middle school students will also continue taking common formative assessments that are created by their teachers for the purpose of gauging whether student learning aligns with state standards.