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The state of education today is driven by strict academic standards and rigorous assessment of student achievement. K-12 teachers are tasked with helping students demonstrate grade-level proficiency and growth against the standards while addressing varied learning needs. Regular testing, including formative, interim, and summative assessments, helps identify what students have mastered, where gaps exist, and where support may be needed. The robust data these assessments reveal provide a road map for student success at the classroom, school, and district levels.  

The education landscape has changed dramatically in the past 20 years, especially post-COVID. Educators are grappling with numerous challenges that make their profession difficult and can lead to poor teacher retention, such as learning loss and academic achievement gaps. As education gaps widen, teachers must deliver personalized learning to students with varying skills and behaviors. Gaining a deep understanding of the many academic content standards educators must teach, let alone bring alive in the classroom, further strains the profession. Additionally, technology has forever altered how teachers teach and how students learn. While it has created meaningful opportunities for teaching and learning, it has also introduced new complexity and uncertainty around tool adoption. Amid growing assessment demands, one of the biggest challenges for educators is not simply collecting data, but knowing which data matters and how to act on it. 

Given classroom teachers' limited resources, how can schools support this work sustainably?

School districts and administrators are key to helping teachers bridge the gaps between understanding academic content standards, administering the required assessments, and using the data they reveal to improve classroom instruction. This ongoing support can help improve morale and break the cycle of attrition. “We’re here to help teachers understand the academic standards — and the data that assessments provide — so they can provide the personalized learning that is so challenging, but necessary, to achieve,” explains Jennifer Fletcher, Ph.D., Assistant Superintendent of PreK-12 Student Services for Chandler Unified School District.