Why We’re Living in a Footnote of History By Dr. Gene Kerns, Vice President and Chief Academic Officer Last spring, the word that kept coming to mind amid the COVID-19 disruptions was surreal. Things seemed so unbelievable that one had to ask, Is this real? Is this actually happening? Or is it a dream? Now, after months of disruptions, the sense of “surreality” has rubbed off. We have become accustomed to the abnormal as our “new normal.” In a healthy way, our thoughts have shifted from questioning realities to determining how best to address them. With a protracted back-to-school season this fall, multiple instructional models (remote, in-person, hybrid) in place, and sudden transitions back to allvirtual services in some districts, Arizona’s 2020– 2021 school year remains in tremendous flux. Questions have abounded, particularly around assessment. Should we still screen students with interim assessments? Can we administer them remotely? If we test remotely, does that impact our data? Are norms being updated? How do we compare growth and progress this school year to growth and progress in previous, “normal” years? How can we gauge the extent of the “COVID Slide”? What do we do about it? In general, educators set very high bars for themselves. They strive to make everything as perfect as it can be, even as conditions work against them. This can create a lot of pressure, and we need to be realistic about just how perfect things can be when we’re working in far-fromperfect conditions. Making the most of educational data this school year If it has not dawned on you already, let me point out that we are currently living in a footnote of history. Ten, twenty, and even fifty years from now, when people look back at longitudinal student data from this period, there will always be an asterisk or footnote to remind them that the data and results must be considered through the lens Page 7 of the disruptions caused by COVID-19. These are imperfect times, and all results from this period must be considered through that lens. And it’s not just that data will need to be considered relative to our current conditions. In some cases, there will be an absolute void—in other words, no data to consider. Think, for example, of the longitudinal data void created by the cancellation of summative tests last spring. There will never be any state-level summative data for the 2019– 2020 school year. Given that most accountability models also consider student growth, states are now wrestling with what the absence of 2019– 2020 data means about growth scores moving forward. Depending on the growth model used, one year of missing performance data could create multiple years of missing growth data. How do we fill this void? With the absence of normative data coming from summative tests, interim assessments are filling the gap. We may not have state test data, but stakeholders are still concerned about gauging students’ learning loss. Interim assessments’ normative scores can address this question and help us to do a lot more. Schools still need to screen students for dyslexia, run their Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) models, and disaggregate performance data to locate and address inequities. Understanding the true impact of the “COVID Slide” To support schools while they are “in the footnote,” Renaissance recently released the largest national longitudinal study targeted specifically at gauging the COVID-19-related academic disruptions. The How Kids Are Performing report looks at the backto-school reading and mathematics performance of 5.3 million students across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Overall, the report shows mathematics performance has been significantly more impacted than reading performance, with (continued on page 18) “Stronger Together!”
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