Students are more likely to underachieve on test day when temperatures exceed 80 degrees, particularly in math, according to new research from the . The findings come in light of a widely discussed 2020 Government Accountability Office report, that 41% of school districts need heating, ventilation and air conditioning updates.

NWEA analyzed the scores of nearly three million tests from fall assessment sessions between 2022 and 2024.

In grades 3 through 8, math test scores are nearly 0.05 standard deviations lower when temperatures range between 81 and 100 degrees and 0.06 standard deviations on days above 101 degrees. For context, 0.06 standard deviations is the equivalent of nearly 10% of the learning typically gained in a school year for a fifth-grader, according to the NWEA.

Meanwhile, high temperatures can have double the impact on students’ math scores in high-poverty schools.

���Our findings show that as temperatures continue to rise, disparities in school facilities, such as having appropriate HVAC systems, can deepen existing inequities and make school infrastructure and building conditions significant issues of educational equity,” said Sofia Postell, research analyst at NWEA.

Here are some recommendations from the researchers:

• Build testing schedules around weather conditions whenever possible.
• Conducting testing in rooms that maintain more stable temperatures. Testing in the morning can also help improve student performance.
• Invest in more resilient facilities in the long term. Districts can leverage student outcome data as evidence of the direct benefits of facility improvements to strengthen support for investments.
• Consider educational equity when planning infrastructure upgrades and resource allocations, especially in high-poverty areas.

Read the full report .

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Date & Time: Tuesday, October 21st at 1 p.m. ET

Far too many students never get the chance to demonstrate their abilities and show their potential on college admissions tests. Among learners from the bottom 20% of household incomes, only one in four take the SAT (or ACT) while 80% of students from the top 20% take a college entrance exam.

In this 30-minute Ed Talk, district leaders from Fort Bend ISD and Plano ISD will share how offering the SAT during the school day can level the playing field. They will also discuss how universal access to the SAT and PSAT-related assessments increases participation, strengthens instructional practices, and expands pathways to scholarships and college opportunities. Learn practical strategies for supporting engagement and readiness for all students.

Key Takeaways��

• How districts are expanding access��so every student, regardless of background, can take the SAT, opening college pathways.
• Best practices for leveraging SAT/PSAT data��to guide curriculum, identify performance gaps, and support teacher collaboration.
• Successful strategies for improving college and career readiness��while connecting students to scholarships and advising resources.

Speakers

Christopher Freeman, Assistant Director of Accountability, Assessment and Compliance, Fort Bend ISD (TX)

Dr. Kevin Moore, Director of Advanced Academics, Plano ISD (TX)

Dr. Nicole Gibbs, Senior Director, External Engagement in the College Readiness Assessments Division, College Board

Speakers

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“The Department will ensure that NAEP continues to provide invaluable data on learning across the U.S.,” she said in a public statement on Thursday. “The 2026 NAEP assessments in reading and math are on track for administration in January 2026.”

Additionally, a to states suggests that U.S. history and civics assessments will be administered to eighth graders. McMahon says the decision to protect the closely watched Nation’s Report Card is part of her commitment to returning educational power to the states.

“As we continue with our final mission to return education to the states, I am committed to providing states with the tools and best practices to advance the educational achievement of our students,” she said.

The letter states that NCES will administer the 2025-26 exam between Jan. 26 and March 20, 2026. Math and reading results for districts participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment, which measures academic progress in urban districts, will be published in early 2027.

The move comes at a time when educators’ concerns over the federal government’s role in education continue to grow. In March, the Education Department initiated a “reduction in force” impacting nearly 50% of its staff. Those whose jobs were cut were put on administrative leave on March 21.

According to a from the Education Department, the agency’s workforce stood at 4,133 workers before the cuts. That number has since been reduced to 2,183.

“I appreciate the work of the dedicated public servants and their contributions to the Department,” McMahon said at the time of the cuts. “This is a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system.”

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Researchers at the Center on Reinventing Public Education posed the question, examining whether parents in various states could go online and easily find details about school performance that would reveal the full impact of the pandemic. Such information could inform decisions in school-choice states or allow families to put pressure on struggling schools, the researchers contend in a new report, ������

“We have lots of suggestive evidence that parents don���t understand the magnitude of the COVID-19 downturns in achievement or attendance, or at least aren���t as concerned as experts think they should be,” the researchers wrote. “Is that because school report cards aren���t leveling with parents about how these outcomes have changed since before the pandemic?”

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Report cards were graded based on the clarity of the data and whether they provided year-to-year comparisons���going back before COVID���on academic growth in core subjects, chronic absenteeism, high school graduation rate and English learner proficiency. States were also ranked on how easy the report card web pages were to navigate.

Seven states got an A: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Here are the remaining states by grade:

• B: Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Nebraska, North Carolina, Washington
• C: Alabama, Colorado, DC, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia
• D: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, West Virginia, Wisconsin
• F: Alaska, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming

Some 35 states earned a C or lower, the researchers noted. “If the federal government is going to require states to provide report cards, and if states are going to spend money to create them, shouldn���t they at least be usable?” the researchers asked. “What purpose are these report cards serving if an average parent or advocate cannot figure out how to use them to answer basic questions about school effectiveness?”

The report urges states with fewer resources to work together to standardize models for user-friendly and data-rich report cards. “Over and over again, we found ourselves lost in a sea of tabs, buried under piles of disaggregated data, or perplexed by confusing visualizations,” the researchers added. “States simply must do better.”

Five states were rated “great” for usability:

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Date & Time: Monday, September 30th at 2 pm ET

Assessment is an important part of the learning journey. It provides an opportunity for students to show what they���ve learned. Yet, in many schools, assessment can stir up feelings of anxiety. In this conversation, we���d like to build a vision of what could be by exploring innovative approaches to creating a positive assessment culture where students take ownership of their learning, teachers receive meaningful data they can use to hone their craft, and administrators and teachers are aligned in elevating student success.

In this webinar, we���ll dive into strategies schools can use to transform assessment from a measurement tool to a catalyst for learning and growth.

You���ll walk away with:

• Ideas for feedback strategies that encourage resilience, ownership, and self-reflection in students.
• Inspiration for how to promote collaboration in your staff that powers meaningful assessments.

Speaker(s)

Moderator: Marcus Vu, Principal Specialist, Instructure

Sponsored by

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Similar to the SAT, the test is going to be shorter. Its length is reduced by up to one-third, depending on the version the students take, ACT CEO Janet Godwin on the nonprofit’s website. This means the test will take around two hours instead of three.

“These enhancements are just the beginning, and we are eager to continue revolutionizing how we prepare learners for future challenges and opportunities,” Godwin wrote.

A more inclusive ACT

The slimmed-down test results from shorter passages in the reading and English sections and fewer questions in each section, for a total of 44.

These changes come after the historic declines in college readiness benchmarks last fall. More than four in 10 seniors met none of the benchmarks and 70% fell short of the readiness benchmarks for math.

“The hard truth is that we are not doing enough to ensure that graduates are truly ready for postsecondary success in college and career,” Godwin wrote at the time.

Flexibility has also been added. Students can choose whether to take the science portion while English, reading and math remain the core sections of the test. “With this flexibility, students can focus on their strengths and showcase their abilities in the best possible way,” Godwin wrote.

These changes will roll out with the national online test in the spring of 2025 and with school-day testing in the spring of 2026. The ACT composite score���the average of the English, math and reading scores���will continue to be reported on the same 1-36 scale.

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A from the independent, solutions-oriented think tank FutureEd offers a way out of this “testing morass.” As of 2021-22, nearly 50% of parents say statewide assessments are “not helpful at all” in keeping their children on track for college.

“Some critics claim state tests take time away from teaching and learning without contributing enough to instruction and provide results too late in the school year to be useful to educators and families,” the report reads. “Others charge the tests are biased against students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and fail to measure important skills beyond academic knowledge.”

But at the heart of the issue is a desire for state tests to serve two different and incompatible roles. The first: giving policymakers comparable information on student achievement. The second: providing detailed information to teachers and families for instructional improvement.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to improve statewide tests without altering the federal accountability requirements fundamental to their use. FutureEd’s solution? A two-tiered testing model.

“Intentionally developing a system of state and local tests that share the same view of student learning could create a more coherent system of assessments than the current tangle of state and local measures,” the authors wrote. “The premise is that local and school-level transparency would drive behavior and the allocation of resources rather than high-stakes consequences.”

For clarification, state tests would prioritize aggregated data for policymakers and education leaders to monitor educational opportunities. Local and classroom-based assessments, a.k.a. second-tier assessments, would give teachers, students and families timely information.

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Teachers said state standardized assessments could prove more useful if they:

• Captured learning over time (46%)
• Were more accessible for unique learners (30%)
• Were more aligned with the curricula used in the classroom (26%)
• Leveraged technology to adapt to an individual student’s abilities as they progressed (15%)
• Came with more guidance on how to use test results to inform instruction (15%)
• Released results more quickly (12%)
• Were more culturally responsive (12%)
• Offered more guidance on how to use the results to communicate progress to parents (10%)
• Were more aligned with state standards (9%)

To see the rest of the data from this comprehensive report, .

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Numerous studies show that students who cannot reach grade-level reading proficiency by third grade rarely catch up and face a greater risk of not graduating from high school. Alarmingly, shows that, nationwide, children who were ages 1 through 4 when pandemic-related school and childcare disruptions began are now coming to school less prepared and struggling to achieve grade-level success.

The implications of these learning gaps are stark. They also explain why State Board of Education President Linda Clark listed ���improving K-3 literacy��� as for 2024. More than 60%% of Idaho students went back to school this September without the skills necessary to reach grade level, according to results from the most recent Idaho Reading Indicator assessment.

A data-driven cultural shift

In West Ada, , our teachers could see evidence of learning loss in nearly every classroom across our 58 schools, from kindergarten through 12th grade. Like many schools in Idaho and across the nation, our district���s challenge in overcoming learning gaps was determining how to allocate the right resources to meet the individual needs of 40,000 students, all of whom were still adjusting to significant disruption. We turned to data to find that answer.

First, creating an ecosystem of data required a fundamental cultural shift around assessment. A broad misconception is that data is primarily used for punitive measurements, determining whether teachers meet the right metrics in their classrooms each year. This mindset reduces students to numerical figures while placing too much pressure on teachers to meet certain benchmarks at the end of the year.

We endeavored to redefine assessments as an instrument for learning and mutual accountability for a student���s success. Now, our teachers are trained to access, evaluate, and communicate data in real-time. They embed diagnostic tests into instruction rather than building instruction toward one or two high-pressure statewide tests. As a result, data serves as the foundation for a constant, continuous conversation between teachers, principals, and families.

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In the last nine years, we have worked with Curriculum Associates, the makers of i-Ready. These programs for K-8 math and reading equip educators with data about students��� skills and areas for growth. In the past, results from state reading assessments each spring would inform teachers about their new class of students, helping them identify learning gaps and skillset needs.

Now, instead of using data as a snapshot���and measuring students��� progress once or twice annually���West Ada���s teachers use i-Ready assessments multiple times throughout the year. Our teachers can now adjust instructional planning decisions and create individualized pathways for every student to succeed. We use assessments to drive progress, not just measure it.

Principals are playing a key role, too

And it���s not just our teachers who embrace data to advance student achievement. Our principals use data to facilitate honest conversations with teachers and students��� families. Our district leaders use data to inform our Leadership Institutes, a regularly programmed in-service day focused on solving department- or grade-level trends and challenges. During our Leadership Institutes, we zero in on data to understand how we can adapt instruction and, ultimately, improve student learning.

Having dependable, accessible data is no longer an advantage in today���s classrooms. It is an imperative. According to results from last spring���s Idaho Reading Indicator assessment, more than 77% of our students are now reading at grade level. As of January 2024, 75% of kindergarten-through-third-grade students are reading at grade level. Although we are encouraged by this progress, our primary goal remains to help every student reach grade-level proficiency.

Every child has the potential to overcome adversity and���in the words of Dr. Seuss���move mountains. We will continue to foster a culture of assessment and embrace data to achieve that goal and help our students reach the places they���ll go.

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I understand that to teach effectively, educators must readily identify areas where their students excel ��� as well as ones where they may need additional support. My career as an educator has been driven by this desire to give every teacher that may be in a learner���s life, whether one at school or in a community center, or their caregiver at home a reliable window into their students��� current knowledge base, and their potential for new growth and discovery.

The best assessment processes allow a learner to be measured alongside milestones of their own developmental trajectory, not in comparison to arbitrary���and potentially outdated���standards that may or may not reflect their unique, lived experiences.

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We at are working to develop such a system of effective, asset-based formative assessments that can power the future of learning. These tools will be designed to deliver accurate, insightful data about the academic, emotional and social well-being of all students, particularly Black and Latino students and students from households experiencing poverty.

Assessment for transformative change

By creating more equitable, inclusive and culturally relevant assessment tools, we believe we can support positive learner outcomes and help eradicate the persistent gap in opportunity faced by preK-12 students who are Black or Latino.

Already, with our R&D partners, we have engaged over 4,000 learners and 1,000 educators across 14 states in our work to develop and validate new assessment measures and to test innovative assessment delivery platforms.

Together, we are working to capture the variables that learners, educators and community partners have identified as critical for understanding the fullness of the learner experience���an experience shaped by classroom-based achievement metrics as well as social and emotional well-being.

The Future(s) of Assessment

The Future(s) of Assessment project, launched in 2023, is an Assessment for Good initiative powered by the Strategic Foresight team at KnowledgeWorks. In February 2023, we held a multi-day workshop, where dozens of educators, researchers, thought leaders in curriculum and assessment design and community activists explored what effective, asset-based assessments could look like in the future���and how they could help positively transform learning for students from all backgrounds. Over the course of our discussions, we considered critical uncertainties and key drivers that might accelerate or derail our commitment to learners.

This short illustration by Rio Holaday, a Culture of Health leader with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, captures a few key moments of our work.

Thinking so intentionally about the future is challenging and it takes courage. But with such a forward-focused lens in place, it is clear that asset-based assessments can and must play a key role in our work to build a better educational experience for students.

When done incorrectly, an assessment identifies gaps or deficiencies. When done well, they can be useful tools to help educators uncover opportunities. Even more, when we leverage emerging technologies in safe and purposeful ways, we can make those data more accessible and useful to educators and learners. Asset-based formative assessment shows administrators which curricula are working and which aren���t���while providing learners with another outlet to share their expertise and creativity.

We envision a future where assessment and learning are intertwined to offer real-time, critical insights into each learner���s individual educational experience. With such tools, educators can more adeptly pivot and customize lessons to meet students��� specific learning needs.

Within a new formative assessment ecosystem, we will be able to provide educators with a more accurate means of pinpointing each unique learner���s best-fit timeline and offer suggestions to educators that can accelerate future growth for both subject matter proficiency and social and emotional well-being.

We���re on the cusp of developing more inclusive, intentional assessment tools capable of expressing a much richer picture of students��� overall learning experience. In capturing that perspective, these new assessments can positively transform the ways we teach���and enrich students��� educational experiences in myriad, fundamental ways.

Your participation matters

We are just beginning our journey to build asset-based formative assessment tools that provide learners with a rich, engaging experience that empowers them in decision-making throughout the measurement process.

There���s more work to be done. As part of the next phase of our assessment co-design and development, we hope to establish additional funded partnerships with schools and community-based organizations that share our commitment to the social and emotional health and academic success of learners.

Under this new paradigm for formative assessment, tools are designed to reflect the vast and beautiful learning potential of every student. These new tools will deliver unprecedented insights into the intricate processes underpinning how students learn. In doing so, they will help shape educators��� ongoing work to validate and support students��� varied���and ever-evolving���journeys of discovery.

Join us in building a future where assessment isn���t seen as an administrative burden for teachers and students but rather as a vital tool to facilitate their success.

With your help, we can create formative assessment tools that more accurately capture the magic at the root of my love for teaching���namely, that spark of mutual learning that happens when teachers and students forge real and engaging connections.

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History scores are also dropping, and alarmingly so: In 2022, the in eighth grade decreased by five points compared to 2018 and by nine points compared to 2014. The average score in 2022 is very similar to the average score from 1994, the first year the assessment was given.

Districts have been directing billions in funding and other resources to meet these declines head-on through the science of reading and other important academic initiatives. But what if we���re only addressing the symptoms and not the root cause?

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An alarming undercurrent to these academic declines is a massive increase in non-academic barriers to learning, manifesting in a rising tide of maladaptive behaviors across all student populations. In a recent , 70% of teachers, principals, and district leaders said that students are exhibiting more disruptive behaviors than in 2019, up from 66% in December 2021.

And in the same survey, one-third of respondents said students are dysregulated ���a lot more.��� Our teachers are well-trained in pedagogy, instruction, and assessment. But are they prepared for the dysregulated student who is disrupting the entire classroom?

It���s easy to send that student out of the classroom, but that doesn���t help the student nor does it lessen the disruption. What about a typical student whose grades started slipping? Do they just need tutoring or is something else going on?

A tidal wave for teachers

The lack of ability to manage and support mental health challenges that students face in and outside of the classroom is impacting teachers��� abilities to provide the highest quality learning experiences. Almost seventeen of students under 18 years of age have at least one diagnosed mental health condition, and roughly half of them receive no treatment such as counseling or other interventions. How this plays out in our classrooms should raise significant concerns for educators and school leaders.

Many school districts desire inclusive classroom environments where students with and without mental health conditions and other specialized needs are learning together. The fact is that most students with diverse learning needs spend the majority of their time in general ed classrooms.

In the absence of preservice training or coaching devoted to behavioral and emotional issues, our teachers are left to improvise and create untested responses to the behavioral challenges they face daily. This is not a new challenge. In 2019, a report by the National Center for Learning Disabilities and Understood stated that only 17% of general education teachers feel ���very well prepared��� to teach children with mild to moderate learning disabilities.

Moreover, 98% of the nation���s schools report special education teacher shortages, with the largest 200 cities in the U.S. reporting special education as being the area with the greatest shortage. In other words, we are losing our special education teachers and our general education teachers are not trained to address students with special needs. Throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at the science of reading initiatives will not make this challenge go away.

The growing wave of mental health conditions and behavioral challenges can feel like a tidal wave for teachers who feel unprepared and overwhelmed���more children with mental health challenges; more students with specialized learning needs in the general education setting; fewer specialized teachers. Once again, we have a math problem.

How to unlock learning for all

As chief administrators in some of our nation���s largest school districts in the country, we have seen and lived these challenges firsthand. Having visited over 60 school districts and over 1,000 classrooms, the way forward is clear to us.

Much has been made of the pending funding cliff. District leaders we speak with are naturally hesitant to begin programs that could lose funding in 18 months. Reframed, this remaining funding should be looked at as an opportunity to jumpstart professional learning and development, investing in our teachers in the areas where they face their biggest challenges and their most significant frustrations.

So, what can we do? First, light- to medium-scale self-care and wellness programs for educators should be table stakes. Next, address the non-academic barriers to learning by empowering and equipping school teams with practical, evidence-based tools to anticipate and defuse behaviors that are disruptive to learning, and to identify signs of mental health challenges. Not just once. Embed these strategies in the new-teacher training curriculum, make it part of annual training followed by coaching, and bring in third-party experts in these fields to avoid overstaffing and overtaxing your existing trainers.

These strategies do not require ongoing stimulus influx to fund. Using the remaining funding to get them ���in the water��� is the best way to lower the rising tide of classroom disruption and teacher dissatisfaction. By addressing these non-academic barriers, we can unlock learning for all students.

Brent Jones is the superintendent of Seattle Public Schools and is dedicated to making sure all students thrive by transforming organizational culture and redesigning PreK-12 systems and supports. With extensive public sector expertise in strategic planning, community engagement, change management, and human resources, Dr. Jones has demonstrated experience creating the right conditions and systems for advancing educational justice.

Robert Avossa is a senior advisor to FullBloom, a company that annually supports more than 150,000 children and 25,000 educators in over 1,100 school districts through its Catapult Learning and Specialized Education Services, Inc. (SESI) divisions. He spent 25 years as a teacher, principal, executive leader, and school superintendent in Florida (Palm Beach), North Carolina (Charlotte-Mecklenburg), and Georgia (Fulton).

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