Iowa began discussing performance assessment in teacher licensure in the middle 1990s and subsequently mandated it for students who began college in Fall 2001.

Iowa State is implementing performance assessment because of that requirement, not because of Quality Counts.

Quality Counts weighs heavily whether states mandate statewide tests; Iowa does not. Instead, Iowa requires districts to develop their own local standards and create an assessment plan that includes other assessments and standardized tests that reflect those standards.

Student achievement in any subject is too complex for a single-measure test. The organizations most involved with scientific assessment, the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association and the National Council on Measurement in Education, recommend multiple forms of assessment for important decisions.

Some studies suggest that single-measure, state-mandated, “high-stakes” testing promotes cheating by school officials and leads teachers to spend too much class time having students memorize for state tests. A recent study compared students in single measure “high-stakes” testing states and students in states with lower-stakes assessment systems. On other measures of achievement such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and ACT tests, the students in lower-stakes testing states seemed to do better.

Comparatively, Iowa students do well on the ACT and other standardized tests.

While a single study is not conclusive in any field, Iowa’s low grade on Quality Counts may indicate a sensible unwillingness to follow other states’ educational lemmings over the high-stakes testing precipice.

Currently, Quality Counts does not count well the quality of Iowa’s school or teacher preparation systems.

Thomas Andre, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair

Curriculum and Instruction