Opinion
Assessment Letter to the Editor

2022 Assessment ‘Most Important’ Ever 

July 12, 2022 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

The nation will soon get the most comprehensive picture to date of COVID’s impact on student achievement, though you may not know it by reading the recent essay “Ignore NAEP. Better Yet, Abolish It” (June 6, 2022).

Far from something to be ignored, the National Assessment of Educational Progress results to be released this fall are the most important in NAEP’s 50-year history. We will get the first national look at how 4th and 8th grade students are doing in math and reading today compared with students just before COVID began disrupting schools in spring 2020. It’s critical that we pay attention to the results, which will give educators, policymakers, and the public an important tool to make informed decisions that advance educational opportunity.

NAEP has long been known as “the nation’s report card” and for good reason. It is the only nationally representative and continuous assessment of what students know and can do. NAEP does not produce student- or school-level data, so results aren’t punitive. Instead, NAEP does something that no other assessment does; it provides comparable achievement data across the nation. It is an objective yardstick and a powerful flashlight.

In addition to achievement results, this year’s assessment includes survey questions about students’ backgrounds and learning experiences during the pandemic. For example, we’ll learn more about students’ access to technology and support they received at home during distance learning—critical context for understanding students’ progress and meeting their needs.

Grasping the pandemic’s full effects on the nation’s schools and students has not been easy. It might be tempting to close our eyes and hope for the best, but doing so now would be irresponsible. We need to know where schools are and how the pandemic affected student learning. Absent that information, educators are operating in the dark.

Lesley Muldoon
Executive Director
National Assessment Governing Board
Washington, D.C.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the July 13, 2022 edition of Education Week as 2022 Assessment ‘Most Important’ Ever

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Mathematics Webinar How to Build Students’ Confidence in Math
Learn practical tips to build confident mathematicians in our webinar.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Assessment Download A Guide to Equitable Grading in Schools (DOWNLOADABLE)
See how traditional and equitable grading practices differ in this downloadable guide.
1 min read
Grading reform lead art
Illustration by Laura Baker/Education Week with E+ and iStock/Getty
Assessment Interactive How Teachers Approach Grading, in Charts
Teachers weigh multiple factors, including subjective perceptions, when selecting grades, beyond just assignments and test scores.
3 min read
Assessment Why Some Schools Are Ditching Class Rank and Weighted GPAs
Educators wonder whether it is time to revisit class rank and weighted GPAs.
8 min read
Grading and assessment SR
Robert Neubecker for Education Week
Assessment Grading for Equity: Inside One District’s Big Policy Shift
Districts have been shifting grading to strictly assess student learning without add-ons such as extra credit.
8 min read
Image of students lined up
Robert Neubecker for Education Week