New Poll Shows Parents Support Annual Assessments in Spring 2021
Parents also Strongly Support Use of Diagnostic Assessments as Students Return to School
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 25, 2020) — A new poll released by Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) partner organization Education Reform Now Advocacy and HIT Strategies shows voters—particularly parents—support the return to statewide, annual assessments this coming spring, as well as the adoption of diagnostic assessments this fall to get a better measure of the impact of COVID-19 on student learning.
While statewide, annual assessments were paused this due to the COVID-19 crisis, the poll—conducted in Georgia and North Carolina—found 51% of parents polled approved of summative tests being administered in the Spring of 2021, compared to just 29% who disapproved.
In Georgia, voter support for administering the statewide annual assessment next spring is 24-percentage-points higher (51% v. 27%) than those who oppose—a striking difference, particularly since Governor Kemp has already sought a waiver for the statewide test for the 2020-2021 school year. The poll results underscore that the majority of Georgia voters do not agree with the Governor’s actions.
“COVID-19 has exacerbated so many inequities that drive the opportunity gaps between historically unserved students and their more privileged peers,” said DFER National President Shavar Jeffries. “Especially now, voters agree that we need the objective, comparable information from statewide, annual assessments so that states and districts can better direct resources to the schools and students who need them most.”
In addition to support for annual assessments, the poll also found that 79% of respondents—including 73% of African American voters, and 78% of voters who are parents—feel that measuring students’ curriculum retention this fall is important to them. Furthermore, 65% of parents believe that states should play a role in the creation of these diagnostic assessments, which are used to gauge what students know and are able to do at the beginning of the year in order to help educators guide and plan instruction. Further, only 27% of parents thought the task of diagnostic assessments should be left solely to local school districts.
“Voters and parents agree that diagnostic assessments are a useful tool for educators to help maximize instructional time and better support individual students’ learning needs—particularly after the interruption in schooling due to the pandemic,” said Charles Barone, vice president for k-12 policy at DFER. “Moreover, there is strong support for a state role in administering these assessments. We hope this expression of public support spurs more states to work closely with districts to pursue diagnostic assessments as students return to the classroom.”
This 800-sample survey was conducted from July 23-31, and consisted of 400 registered voters each in Georgia and North Carolina from all political viewpoints with a 100-person oversample each of African Americans and parents. The survey was conducted via a double opt-in online panel.
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