Some TUSD students now have 1 less standardized test to take

Some Tucson Unified School District teachers will have one less standardized test to administer to students next quarter, after the district’s teachers union and governing board came to an agreement concerning district-mandated testing.

The district’s K-8 students have been undergoing IReady Diagnostics testing, which is administered to help guide teachers and learning recovery specialists in their teaching of math and reading. Under the agreement the next planned round of IReady testing is optional for TUSD students in grades K-2. The switch was approved Tuesday by the TUSD governing board.

Both students and educators have lamented the additional testing.

Because of this extra testing, teachers are unable to incorporate grade-level instruction and “fill in gaps from previous grade levels, and have daily experiences in school that are rooted in curiosity and student agency,” Jaye Harden, a fourth grade teacher at Grijalva Elementary School told the board.

Harden also said testing is robbing teachers of using their professional judgement and cannot “deviate from district pacing guides to offer our students the supports they are showing us they need.”

Gina Santos, a TUSD parent, said her youngest child, who is an elementary school student, dreads test days because of the extra pressure. Santos said she struggles to get him to go to school on testing days.

A handful of students spoke to the board Tuesday night, saying that they, too, suffer from test-taking anxiety because of the emphasis placed on standardized tests.

The IReady diagnostic tests, taken three times per school year, have been used to evaluate the effectiveness of desegregation-funded interventionist positions, which were originally paid for with Federal COVID relief funds.

The cost of retaining these learning recovery professionals was $3.6 million.

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The learning recovery specialists, including interventionists and response to intervention professionals, were retained after the COVID relief funds expired last fall. Their purpose is to foster and accelerate math and reading progress in struggling – “low-growth” – TUSD students in grades 3-8.

Interventionists design and plan individualized work with students, using data – like that collected by IReady tests – to identify the best techniques and materials for a student’s needs. Response to intervention teachers, or RTIs, primarily work with grades 6-8 and are embedded within classes.

The district’s exploratory analysis was based on the Arizona Academic Skills Assessment, which contributes to the state’s school letter grades. The district’s analysis considered grades 4-8 only.

Exploratory studies conducted by the district as pandemic relief funds ran out indicated the addition of the learning recovery professionals are working. However, some have pointed out that “exploratory” studies are initial evaluations, as opposed to scientific studies.

Some speakers at TUSD’s meeting Tuesday evening pointed out that IReady Diagnostic tests are only given in English.

According to ADE, in school year 2023-2024, about 5,600 of TUSD’s roughly 40,000 students were considered English Language Learners, which are students whose primary language is something other than English.

Arizona Department of Education state tests for school year 2023-2024 show that nearly 90% of TUSD’s English learners tested below the state’s standards of English language proficiency.

The governing board voted unanimously to make the district’s upcoming round of IReady Diagnostic Testing optional.