A proposal by Clearfield Republican Rep. Karianne Lisonbee would have created a pilot program giving some schools the option to use a “nationally norm-referenced assessment,” a test that would measure achievement and growth in math, reading and science, comparing individual students’ performance with a national average from their peers. That would have been instead of the current state standard, which tests students to grade-level proficiency.

“School districts right now, a lot of them, use a national norm-referenced test to get really robust data, and they also use the RISE, Aspire test,” Lisonbee told the House. “Under this program, they’ll only be required to use the national norm-referenced test in place for the summative test.”

With a 32-42 vote, the proposal failed.

Under the proposal, less than 10% of school districts could opt into the pilot program during its first years, a number that would rise to 20% in 2029. However, charter schools had a larger cap — 35% before 2029, and 50% later.

When Lisonbee presented the bill to the House Education Committee in January, charter schools advocates were supportive of the effort, arguing that it would ease students’ anxiety towards the end of the year, which leads to many opting out of the tests that gather data to help inform public education policy.

The national model, they said, also provides faster results and the scores could be converted to match state standards. Lisonbee also noted that the schools interested in the program would bear its cost.

The bill divided the House, with support from some Republicans, like West Valley City Republican Rep. Matt MacPherson, who said the RISE assessment isn’t making a substantial impact in Utah schools and the state should mix things up.

“We’ve been using RISE now for seven or eight years in Utah, and it has made no measurable impact as far as increasing actual competencies in education,” MacPherson said. “This is more of a compliance and a data gathering tool than it is providing any benefit to the students or the schools.”

But some educators, like Holladay Democratic Rep. John Arthur, say the national norm-referenced test won’t measure the same items as the RISE test, which was designed to evaluate Utah’s core standards.

“As a teacher, I look at those state standards passed down from the State School Board, and the test items that my students take are based entirely on those which I base my entire instruction upon,” Arthur said. “A national norm-referenced test, like an IQ test, ACT, SAT, these have value, but not as an end-of-year assessment to see whether or not our students have mastered the standards that we are holding them to.”

Clinton Republican Rep. Karen Peterson, who often drafts the Republican supermajority’s flagship education bills, also opposed Lisonbee’s proposal, arguing that national assessments serve a specific purpose, and unlike RISE, they cannot measure growth.

If Utah were to adopt a policy like Lisonbee’s proposal, the state would most likely use the Northwest Evaluation Association’s national assessment, which doesn’t have a peer-reviewed growth test.

And ultimately, Peterson said, it would limit parents’ chances to compare schools through the data the state tests collect.

“Mapping two different assessments is complicated work, and I want to make sure our parents can have the best educated decision that they can when they determine which school they want their child to go to,” Peterson said. “And the RISE assessment is one of the tools we’ve provided to help us know how our schools are doing and how parents have the information on comparing assessments.”

Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.