New benchmark assessment tool proposed for Memphis students

Students in Shelby County may add a new test to their schedule beginning this fall if the district’s Board of Education approves a proposed district-wide benchmark assessment.

Chief Academic Officer Heidi Ramirez wants students to undergo the new assessment three times this school year to measure their academic progress before having to take the state’s new TNReady exams beginning next spring.

TNReady will be aligned with the state’s current Common Core academic standards, as would the district’s new benchmark assessment wanted by Ramirez. The district’s new “universal screener” would identify students in need of intervention, particularly in reading and math, where 32 percent of district students scored proficient in reading and 40 percent in math this year.

“We have a less-than-perfect assessment portfolio right now,” Ramirez told the Shelby County Board of Education on Tuesday evening. “What we don’t have is a benchmark assessment that would help us monitor schools’ progress during the year so we don’t have to wait until the end of the year to find out if a school is dramatically off course.”

The new assessment was recommended by a district task force convened by Ramirez last winter to research and compare standardized testing options used by other school districts. In June, the task force began searching for a testing vendor.

If the board approves, Ramirez wants the district to purchase the assessment by early September.

“The goal would be to have an assessment in place for administration in September or October of the school year,” Ramirez told the board, adding that the plan is “to administer that three times a year.”

Ramirez said the district is seeking one vendor to provide assessment tools for all students pre-K through 12th grade in an attempt to streamline the process. The assessment likely would be administered online, she said.

TNReady, the state’s new TCAP test for English language arts and math in grades 3-11, also will be administered primarily online. To accommodate the technological transition, Shelby County Schools and other districts across Tennessee are investing in new computers, software and training.

Earlier Tuesday, the board’s legislative committee discussed concerns about over-testing — an issue that is being reviewed by a state testing task force convened last spring by Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen.

“The drums are beating really hard in Nashville as far as whether or not we’re testing our students too much, so we can make sure that our teachers get their bonuses and our schools stay off the priority lists,” board member Kevin Woods told Ramirez. “Quite honestly, this investment bothers me quite a bit.”

Ramirez responded that the new assessment is needed for accountability to inform instruction.

Memphis has the highest concentration of low-performing schools in Tennessee. Both the district and the state have turned the city into a battleground for school improvement.

Once approved, the new benchmark assessment would require three to four weeks of technology preparation for students to take the test, as well as professional development for teachers to familiarize themselves with the new instrument.

See Ramirez’ PowerPoint presentation to the school board here.