Ryan Walters explains plan to end federal end-of-year testing in Oklahoma

State Superintendent Ryan Walters says Oklahoma is moving to replace federally mandated end-of-year tests with more frequent benchmark assessments, pending approval of a federal waiver.

Walters spoke with Haley Hetrick about what the change would mean for students, parents, and teachers.

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW

Q: What are your thoughts on these end-of-year tests, and why change them?

"Let's start at the beginning. So what you saw was the federal government a couple of decades ago started saying we're going to require these tests of every state. And again, what we've seen under President Trump is: Let's return power back to the states. Why is the Federal Department of Education dictating for every kid what a test should look like?

"What you've seen is this massive end-of-year testing operation that takes for some districts over a month to get all the testing done. The test scores don't come back till late in the summer. Parents are frustrated… Over 20,000 parents responded [to a survey], over 81% said we hate it… It's not giving us information to let us know if our kids are learning. So that's what we began to work with districts, parents, and teachers on: how to assess learning in a model parents can see in real time."

Q: What would replace those tests?

"This is really the beauty of this — we're taking the government-mandated test off the table… Every six to nine weeks or so, you give a test to see how well you are doing at this moment. What we're saying as a state is: OK, that's what we're going to support. We can make sure those are calibrated so we can see exactly how your kids are learning compared to other schools and other states.

"We’re not then going to come in at the end of the year with a massive government test. Parents will have scores in real time… If adjustments need to be made, those adjustments are made in real time rather than for the next school year."

Q: How will this change the curriculum for teachers and students?

"Our focus is, are they competent in the standard that they're learning?… Let's measure it quicker to when they were taught the core standard. If they didn’t get it, we'll go back and reteach it… Teachers’ curriculum will be much more tied to standards, much more tied to student learning, rather than changing at the end of the year to get kids ready for this test. Teachers can just focus on teaching the standards and hitting the benchmarks."

Q: When was the waiver submitted to the federal government?

"We've been working with the Trump administration on this for a while now… Now we have to formally submit it. This is kind of the final step… They’ve been tremendous on this. Over 20,000 parents responded, 81% said we want to do away with this testing model. They gave us tremendous feedback… All of these have been steps we’ve been working on to get to this point."

Q: Lawmakers say these tests are required by federal and state law. Will you need state or board approval?

"No, we don't need any of their approval. They don't understand how this works… We will still give the information to the federal government, which is what’s required by law. But we’ll be able to give them more information by giving the snapshots throughout the year… This doesn’t need any kind of approval except through the federal government."

Q: The waiver would start this school year. Can schools make the change that quickly?

"Absolutely. Many districts already do this… We’re taking something out and reallocating resources to what they already are doing… They're going to get more support, a major issue taken off their plate, and parents will be able to see learning in real time."

Q: Will this data also go into school report cards and teacher evaluations?

"Exactly… This empowers districts to see how much students are growing within the year… We want parents to be able to see how quickly kids are accelerating in their learning and what is working in our education system… If they fall behind, we’ll have immediate interventions, and parents will have full transparency."

Q: How quickly do you expect federal approval?

"Yes… I can't say enough about President Trump. He’s fulfilled his campaign promise… This is one of the biggest oversteps from the federal government, to say 'we're gonna make your tests look like this.' Parents want information to make decisions for their kids. We expect this to move forward rather quickly."

Q: What do you want to see in five years?

"I think we’re going to have less and less of a federal footprint on education… We’re going to continue to be the leading state on moving at the fastest pace possible to return power back to parents, teachers, and kids in the classrooms."

Q: Some districts say they weren’t aware of the quick timeline. How will OSDE help them?

"We’ve been meeting with dozens of superintendents from across the state for over two years on this… We have a full team working with districts. We’ve taken something off their plate and will support what’s already being done."

Q: Any final thoughts?

"Oklahoma’s been leading in education reform… What we’re doing with a measure like this is making sure teachers have the time and resources to focus on your child and not federal requirements… Parents are going to see the benefits quickly."