The results are in and only 60% of Delaware students took the Smarter Balanced Assessment for grades 3rd-8th for the 2020-2021 school year.
Yes, we can blame Covid for this. And the fact that most students were either hybrid or remote for the last school year. But it is still something to celebrate. It massively skews the data for the entire assessment and renders it meaningless. Which, let’s face it, has always been manipulated for purposes that really have nothing to do with education. It is a numbers and money game. Used for punitive rather than informative. It has never been a true barometer of student regression or achievement.
Yes, the Delaware Department of Education WILL use the data to show Covid caused regression for students. But anyone could tell you that. We didn’t need to spend millions of dollars to administer a test to tell us that. But the DOE will tell you it is needed and blah blah blah.
Thank you to all the students and parents who opted out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment this year. It is definitely a cause for celebration!!!