Making Decisions Using Assessment Data in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond

In the summer and fall months of a “typical” year, many education leaders would receive reports of student performance on annual summative state assessments administered each spring. Using these data, administrators begin a process of sense-making — identifying areas that need support and integrating new information offered by the data into their base of understanding about the performance of their students, school, district, county, and state. However, because the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed teaching and learning over the past two school years, education leaders will need to bring a different mindset to reviewing assessment data from spring 2021. This publication addresses decision-making questions SEAs and LEAs might have.