As students across the Valley wrap up their final exams before winter break, experts suggest school districts should rethink the way they’re testing students. Tracy Weeks with Instructure, the company that created online learning platform Canvas, told ABC15 the pandemic presented an opportunity for state leaders and school districts to pause and evaluate how student learning is assessed. “At the end of it all, we're trying to make sure that every student is learning and growing throughout the year, and that we have ways to really make sure that they're being measured in the same way and that's really at the heart of it,” said Weeks. Weeks said some educators feel a better way to do that is with small but frequent check-in tests at the beginning of class. They can gather the same information they need about their students’ learning progress as those massive end-of-term finals.
