Dive Brief:

• Although seven states are now approved to use college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT for federal accountability, those tests aren't designed for that purpose — they are supposed to predict a student's college success, not their college readiness. 
• Assessment experts tell Education Week that a large shift by states in that direction "would represent an important national shift in the meaning of high school testing," since most current standardized tests are based on mastery of academic standards. 
• So far, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, and New Hampshire can use the SAT, and Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming can use the ACT for federal accountability; 10 more states have expressed interest in using the tests.

Dive Insight:

Once again, concerns over a specific provision of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) are being raised before the actual regulations go into effect and guidance for their implementation has been written. "It isn't clear yet exactly which 'nationally recognized high school academic assessments' the Education Department will consider acceptable," Education Week notes, adding that its unclear how well the national college entrance exams in question can represent state standards.

Obviously, tests are supposed to be used for the purpose for which they were designed. Otherwise, any unintended results are open to valid criticism over veracity. And since ESSA now shifts responsibility over performance and accountability back into states' hands, the determination over their own standards will be largely up to them, and subject to politics — perhaps moreso than before.

Recommended Reading

Education Week: Will States Swap Standards-Based Tests for SAT, ACT?