Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Assessments Testing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parent questions consistency and purpose of new quarterly assessments in Hamilton County Schools
Summary
A parent at the Hamilton County Board of Education work session said district-created quarterly assessments are causing confusion about whether they are mandatory, who decides to use them, whether they count as a grade, and whether they repeat the benchmarks the board recently voted to eliminate.
A parent and longtime Hamilton County Schools participant raised concerns about new district quarterly assessments during the work session, asking whether the district’s plan would increase testing and reduce teacher autonomy.
Tammy Barnes, who said she has three sons in the district, told the board she was concerned the quarterly assessments being created by district content leads would resemble previously eliminated benchmark tests. “I heard that the district was creating a new quarterly assessment, to be given after the first and third quarter, which to me… my next logical conclusion after hearing that was that this was a direct response to the school board vote in May to eliminate benchmark benchmarks tests,” Barnes said.
Barnes said she contacted district staff and was told the decision on whether to use the new tool is at the school-administration level; she described it as a one-class-period assessment that could be used as a grade. “Apparently, what I understand now is that it is up to each administration,” Barnes said. She urged clarity and expressed concern about testing fatigue, teacher autonomy and inconsistent use across schools.
District staff present said the assessment work is being done by content leads and that schools will have discretion to adopt the tool. The board did not take formal action during the work session; staff and board members said questions about consistency and uses of the assessment should be discussed in committee and with principals.
