By Alex Fernandez
As schools across the country reopen this fall, uncertainty remains and questions abound. In my role as assessment director for Imagine Schools—a network serving more than 30,000 K–12 students across seven states and the District of Columbia—I focused on two main concerns: how we would administer assessments this year and how consistent the results would be across schools and states. One of the most pressing questions was whether remote assessment can be as reliable and useful as in-person testing.
The Need for Assessment
Assessment is a legal requirement in every state, and those requirements differ from one jurisdiction to another. That complexity makes coordination challenging for a multi-state system, but accountability also brings clear benefits. Regular assessment helps ensure that instruction is effective in every classroom and provides essential information for school leaders to make evidence-based decisions.
Beyond accountability, assessments are a practical tool for teachers. They reveal each student’s current level of understanding so teachers can tailor instruction and interventions. While assessments document what students already know, their greatest value lies in identifying gaps—what students still need to learn—so teachers can prioritize instruction efficiently.
Is Remote Assessment Effective?
During last year’s COVID-19 school closures, we worried about whether remote assessments would accurately reflect student learning. To get a clearer answer, Dr. Bill Younkin of the Biscayne Research Group carried out a study for us. Sixteen Imagine Schools, representing roughly 5,000 students, participated in remote assessments using the same platform our network deploys for both in-person and online testing. That consistency allowed a reliable comparison across settings.
Dr. Younkin’s analysis found that remote assessments produced results comparable to those collected in person, with two modest differences. Remote testing showed fewer extremely low scores and a slightly higher number of exceptionally high scores. Both effects were more noticeable in lower grades and nearly vanished in upper grades.
The reduction in very low scores seems to reflect students taking tests more seriously when a parent is nearby or when the home environment encourages focus. Conversely, the increase in very high scores likely stems from parental help during the assessment. Parents often view test outcomes as tied to rewards or consequences, and their involvement can unintentionally inflate results.
Because of that, it’s important to communicate clearly with families: the main purpose of assessments is diagnostic. Results inform teachers and principals about next steps in instruction, not to reward or punish students. Clear guidance for parents can reduce the influence of inadvertent assistance and help preserve the accuracy of remote assessments.
Is Distance Learning Effective?
Dr. Younkin also compared end-of-year assessment data from 2020, after pandemic-related closures, with scores from 2019 to evaluate distance learning’s effectiveness. Overall, 2020 scores were largely similar to the previous year, although there was more variability at the very low end in some grades.
His report noted that the problematic patterns in lower-grade results were not present in virtual schools that provided focused guidance and training for those administering tests. This suggests that with proper training and clear protocols, the challenges of remote assessment at early grade levels can be addressed.
In short, while distance learning and remote assessment require additional planning and support, they can work effectively for the families and students we serve.
Planning for an Unpredictable Fall
These findings informed our fall planning and gave us confidence as we prepared for multiple scenarios across seven states. Because each campus and state may face different conditions—health guidance, local policy, and family needs—we kept our approach flexible while maintaining a consistent assessment framework.
We chose to stick with our typical fall assessment timeline and administer baseline assessments two to three weeks into the school year after students and staff have settled in. Those initial results will provide classroom-level baselines for teachers and an organizational baseline for Imagine Schools.
Throughout the year we plan three to four additional progress-monitoring assessments, culminating in a spring test. Although many of our schools are expected to start the year online, and roughly 30,000 students will likely take baseline assessments remotely, we are better prepared than we were in the spring. We’ve updated protocols, strengthened communication with families, and provided targeted professional development for teachers to ensure smoother implementation and more reliable data.
Putting Results to Work
This year, assessment data will be more important than ever. The abrupt end to the 2019–2020 school year likely increased variation in students’ skills and knowledge, so teachers will need to use results selectively to prioritize instruction.
Teachers understand that some skills are foundational while others, though valuable, are less critical for immediate progress. For example, recognizing the sounds that letters make is a prerequisite for learning to read, while comparing different versions of a story is an important literacy skill that typically develops after basic decoding is in place. Focusing on foundational “focus skills” ensures students gain the competencies they need to make rapid gains in learning.
To support this, we’ve provided professional development to regional teams and teachers so they can identify and prioritize those high-impact skills. The goal is to help teachers use assessment data to cover the most ground in the least time, addressing essential gaps first and then expanding instruction to higher-level skills.
This fall will feel different in many ways, but the fundamentals of assessment remain the same: gather accurate data, use it to target instruction, and monitor progress. The details of administration may shift, and we may need to dig deeper in some areas, but assessment data will continue to guide our work and show the way forward.
About the author
Alex Fernandez is the assessment director for Imagine Charter Schools. She can be reached at [email protected].
This article was originally published by The Learning Counsel, a research institute and news media hub focused on the transition to digital curriculum.