Rethinking the Test Pile is a national study by Education First examining how academic assessment systems are evolving across states and districts. The research includes a national study of K–8 district assessment practices, a scan of state policies shaping local assessment architecture and a review of past assessment audit and literacy efforts.
We examined what academic assessments students take and why, how much time and money they require, how leaders decide what to administer and how state policy choices shape local systems. We catalogued assessments across 67 districts in 38 states, interviewed district and state leaders, analyzed assessment statutes and guidance across 27 states and reviewed past audit and assessment literacy initiatives.
Taken together, the analyses across 42 states point to a clear conclusion: Local assessment systems have become crowded, overlapping and difficult to manage, often growing through compliance rather than intentional design. Bringing coherence to these systems requires intentional choices about purpose, alignment and use across the full assessment ecosystem.
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