Beyond the Scantron

The role of testing dominates many education policy conversations from classroom practice to state accountability systems to college admissions. In this series, the expert voices of parents, educators, researchers, and policy makers discuss how assessments are built, how they are used, how they can be improved, and the critical role they play for students during the pandemic and beyond.

Yopung boy lifting his hand in school class.
Series Chapters
Chapter 1

Introduction

Read the article Series Introduction to Beyond the Scantron.
Sep 14, 2020

Series Introduction to Beyond the Scantron

By: Anne Wicks
In this series, the expert voices of parents, educators, researchers, and policy makers discuss how assessments are built, how they are used, how they can be improved, and the critical role they play for students during the pandemic and beyond.
Chapter 2

Glossary

Chapter 3

Expert Viewpoints

Read the article How Teachers Help Texas Create Its State Exams.
Sep 30, 2020

How Teachers Help Texas Create Its State Exams

Cindy Riney, teacher in the Montgomery Independent School District north of Houston, has served on panels that review test questions for the STAAR exams. She discusses how test questions are reviewed, refined, or rejected in Texas — and teachers' role in the process.
Read the article Demystifying Tests for Parents.
Sep 23, 2020

Demystifying Tests for Parents

Bibb Hubbard and Cindi Williams of Learning Heroes discuss the role that quality assessments play in helping parents understand their children’s academic progress.
Read the article The Three W's of Testing.
Sep 14, 2020

The Three W's of Testing

Andrew Ho, the Charles William Eliot Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, explains the importance of knowing "who" is making "what" diagnosis to inform "which" decision.