The 2022-23 school year is almost over across the Nation, and parents are still concerned about learning loss and what’s happening with meeting the academic, social, and emotional needs of all students.

As a veteran educator, I am too.

Earlier this year, Amelia Park Harvey penned an article focusing on IPS’ test scores and the impact of pre- and post-pandemic academic levels.

The article highlighted good news for parents, reflecting how Indianapolis Public Schools have started to rebound from struggling test scores, but attempts to recover are still miles away from getting students on track to meet the 2025 goal.

I want parents to read this article and ask questions of their children’s teachers and school board members. The stress of high-stakes testing, in fact, is not helping students get the academic, social, and emotional support they need, especially as we’re coming out from the last two years of the pandemic.

“In IPS last year, 22.3% of students in grades 3-8 were proficient in English, and 19.5% were proficient in math,” according to Harvey.

Data can be used to determine the success of students. For example, test data is typically categorized into subgroups, such as race or socioeconomic status to determine which groups are succeeding and which groups need more support.

As a special education teacher, I tell parents that public school districts investing in high stakes testing does more to place your child behind than it does to advance them. It’s factual if we look at the calendar days of school and the number of days/months leading up to standardized/high-stakes testing that is used for test prep.

This isn’t a call to action to remove high-stakes testing. However, it is an invitation for parents who have children with physical, mental, or other identified learning disorders to consider the importance and urgency of having your school districts:

• A: Invest in co-teaching models
• B: Invest in high-stakes tutoring for students in and out of school

All student groups have experienced a negative impact when it comes to learning loss, but the traditional gaps in education between white students to Black and Latino students are still present.

According to the article on IPS’ recent testing data, Black and Latino students’ proficiency in both math and language arts grew from last year. This is a success to be celebrated for students, yet it is also a cautionary tale for parents. In comparison, the proficiency rates for white students grew significantly more than Black and Latino students in the same district.

Unlike their white peers whose data from the ILEARN test in 2022 exceeded their 2019 results, Black and Latino students in general education still have not recovered. As we track student progress using data, although school districts in Indianapolis and across the Nation are making gains, Black and Latino students are still disproportionately failed and left behind. 

Putting together the pieces of high-stakes testing for parents means going beyond the annual test prep workshop and strategies shared for testing and actually impacting teaching and learning through improved teacher preparation.