A Letter to Santa

 

Dear Santa,

I am the next generation of large-scale assessment and I am 4 1/2 years old.  I have been very good this year. At least I have tried very hard to be good.  I have been reliable and fair. I think that I have been valid, but Uncle Steve says that’s not for me to decide. I have tried not to do things that I really shouldn’t do like evaluating teachers and promoting little kids from third grade to fourth grade.

Some of the bigger kids try to get me to play in their accountability games.  They like to do all sorts of strange things to my scores before they report them.  I am not even sure that what’s reported are even my scores anymore.  I tell them why can’t you just use percent proficient – everybody understands that.  Andy from across the street just laughs at me, “Ho, Ho, Ho”, and says looking at those percentages is like “viewing progress through a funhouse mirror.” My best friend Joey is even meaner.  He just runs around yelling, “Liar, Liar, Hair on Fire!” I don’t even know what that means.

Santa, it seems like people are always trying to change me.  They want me to be shorter, but they want five performance levels and subscores.  They want me to cost less, but they want to use authentic texts and measure high-level skills. They want me to tell them if kids are on track to be college- and career ready and they don’t even know what that means.  I try to adapt, but it’s really hard.  You know, real people used to take such care in putting me together; now it seems algorithms just grab items off of a shelf like a shopper on Christmas Eve and like magic, Happy Birthday, a test is born ready to administer!  You know Santa, sometimes I don’t even feel like I am the same test when they put me on a computer.

I have to tell you Santa, I am a little worried about 2019.  Can you believe that in a couple of months I have to test NAEP Reading and Mathematics again?  It seems like they just reported results from my 2017 tests.  I hope that goes more smoothly this time around.

And then there are all of things they are asking me to do to assess the next generation science standards.  There are just so many changes and things that have never been tried before. Everyone tells me I look phenomenal, but I am not so sure.

Does anyone really understand what the performance expectations mean?

Has anyone tried to define proficient performance on different combinations of performance expectations?

Has anyone even thought about what proficient performance across a whole science test is supposed to look like?

I am afraid that we might be putting the sleigh before the reindeer here, Santa.

I mean, what’s the rush? I would really hate for this to be the 1990s all over again – the last time they tried to introduce next generation assessments before they were ready.  A whole lot of promising young assessments were cut down before they reached their prime in that purge.

Santa, I can’t take another heartbreak. Lately it feels like everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don’t know what large-scale testing is all about. Santa, isn’t there anyone who knows what large-scale testing is all about?

So Santa, if you can bring me only one gift this year it would be to help people remember the true meaning and purpose of large-scale assessment.  Help them understand where I fit within a coherent and balanced system of assessments.

I know that’s a lot to ask; but I believe, Santa.  I believe.