Walz administration wants to rethink standardized tests

The Minnesota Department of Education is creating a task force to take a closer look at standardized tests.

The group — made up of students, parents, teachers and school leaders — will review whether Minnesota’s once-a-year exams accurately measure student progress. 

Members will also weigh the impact of the high-stakes testing on students and their families, and look to other states for alternatives to the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, or MCAs — the statewide standardized tests given each spring to gauge student performance in reading, math and science — that might better capture a student’s growth.

“This is the beginning of a critical statewide conversation, not a predetermined outcome,” Education Commissioner Willie Jett said in the press release. “We want to understand what students and educators need from an assessment system today and in the future.”

The task force comes amid a broader national debate over the role of standardized testing and how schools can best measure student learning, including calls for a system that provides more timely and useful information to educators and families instead of relying on results from a single test often completed months ago.

It also comes as Minnesota schools continue to grapple with mediocre results on the current testing platform. 

A Reformer analysis of student test scores from 2019 to 2025 found that fewer than 1 in 8 Minnesota school districts have returned to pre-pandemic proficiency rates in math or reading. Separate data shows that schools are also seeing rising rates of test nonparticipation, with some districts approaching 60%.

Students and parents interested in serving on the task force can apply through Oct. 9. The group is expected to begin meeting in October.