Same Tests, Same Results: Multiyear Correlations of Every Student Succeeds Act–Mandated Standardized Tests in Texas and Nebraska

• In Event: Testing in Education: Validity, Access, Equity, and Choice

Abstract

Statewide assessments in reading and math are required every year under 2015’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), at an annual expense of billions of taxpayer dollars. Analyzing ten years of school-level results from public schools in two states—Nebraska and Texas—we found that year-to-year correlations of schools’ test scores were exceptionally strong, with reading and math Pearson correlation coefficients regularly above r = 0.9, indicating that little new information is derived from annual testing. Furthermore, schools experiencing demographic changes had significantly lower year-to-year correlations, indicating that significant changes in school’s test scores are largely a function of changing student demographics. We argue that annual testing requirements represent a poor investment of public funds that could be spent more productively.

Authors

• Norman P. Gibbs, Arizona State University

• Margarita Pivovarova, Arizona State University

• David C. Berliner, Arizona State University