TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Students in the Tucson Unified School District will see significantly fewer standardized tests starting this school year.
13 News Education Solutions reporter Isabela Lisco was the first to report the changes.
According to a Memorandum of Understanding between the TUSD and the Tucson Education Association from May 2025, some students will see 50% fewer tests.
While the MOU was drafted in May, it was approved by the Tucson USD Governing Board last week and made public on Tuesday, July 29.
The TEA has been advocating for the district to eliminate all non-mandated testing for a while to give teachers the power to assess their students.
TEA President Jim Byrne said the decision was a long time coming.
“Educators and students have shared the concern over too much testing,” he told 13 News. “During the 2024-2025 school year, our union collected more than 1,200 signatures from educators and families who wanted to see change in our community, and we worked closely with the district to create a TEA-TUSD Task Force that was responsible for coming up with real solutions.”
Byrne told 13 News that TEA first campaigned in September to remove all testing, but they are satisfied with the motion for this year.
“What this campaign started at was looking at how much instructional time was disrupted by tests because there’s also the makeups, the reschedules and all those types of bits,” Byrne said. “To transform our working conditions like this, we know that’s a big boost to our students’ learning conditions.”
Dr. Ravi Shah, a TUSD Governing Board member who voted to reduce the testing, explained the reason for his decision.
“I’m a parent to 3 TUSD students myself, in middle school and elementary school,” Shah said. “I don’t want my kids to be over-tested. I want them to be learning and growing and getting the material, and not focus all the time on test-taking.”
Shah told 13 News that he believes the new testing changes will lead to better outcomes for teachers and students, but it’s also a work in progress.
“Our goal is that we don’t want to have too much testing but we do want to have some assessment, so we know what’s going on,” Shah said. “I think as a parent, I’m assured that we’re doing the right amount of testing and it’s something we will continue to evaluate.”
Video of the vote can be watched in the video player below. It should start right before the vote, but if not, it happened nearly 1 hour and 29 minutes in.
“The Governing Board’s approval of our MOU means that educators will have more time to do what we do best — teach our students and help them engage with deep and meaningful learning instead of endless tests,” Byrne said.
Below is a breakdown of the assessments for each grade grouping, taken directly from the MOU.
K-8 ASSESSMENTS
Quarterly Benchmarks discontinued.
- The district will provide expectations, guidance, and support to school leaders in the transition from benchmarks to i-Ready for consistent implementation and usage of data to improve student growth.
DIBELS
- DIBELS End of Year (EOY) Window will be adjusted to take place after the state testing has finished.
- DIBELS will stop being used as a growth measure for teachers in grades K–3 for the Teacher Evaluation (pending Governing Board approval). For SY2025-26, teachers in grades K–3 will receive the school average for their growth score.
- DIBELS will continue to be administered as a state-approved screener for Move On When Reading (MOWR).
i-Ready Diagnostic
- i-Ready will be the common interim measure for the district as required by State and Federal guidelines. It is to be administered at the Beginning, Middle, and End ofthe Year for all K-8 Students.
- The district will identify the best testing windows and review and provide feedback on the i-Ready implementation and best practices for students.
- The district will develop guardrails and guidelines for administrators for effective i-Ready implementation (Testing protocols, usage, and minutes) to implement the program effectively in classrooms.
Structured English Immersion (SEI)
- Students will continue to utilize the EL Assessment practices as outlined in the Assessment Policy for English Language Learners to align to State and program requirements.
Two-Way-Dual Language Schools
- Students in TWDL will maintain their assessment practices as they stand and in accordance with programmatic requirements.
HIGH SCHOOL
- ACT Mimics will be required in grades 9 through Grade 11 (2 times a year, not at the end of any quarter) for State monitoring and compliance requirements. These assessments provide comparability, aggregated and disaggregated data, and predictability requirements required for monitoring and reporting purposes.
- Sites are encouraged to continue to utilize the Comprehensive Balanced Assessment Framework to develop sound assessments practices at their individual sites.
Assessment Task Force Continuation
The TUSD Assessment Task Force will convene at least twice during the 2025–2026 school year to continue efforts to:
- Establish more manageable testing practices across schools.
- Reduce or remove redundant assessments.
- Where possible, find ways to disentangle grant and federal program requirements from non-state-mandated assessments.
- Make recommendations to the Superintendent and Governing Board.
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Isabela Lisco is a Report for America corps member covering education solutions for 13 News. Her position is made possible through funding from Report for America and the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund.
Copyright 2025 13 News. All rights reserved.
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