Arkansas is showing what’s possible when we move faster for students

After 23 years in the classroom, I have learned something simple but powerful: students will rise to the level we set for them. The question is whether the systems around them rise just as quickly. Fortunately, in Arkansas this year, something changed.

For the first time, I received my students’ state test results the same day they took the test. In past years, I waited months, by which point I was no longer teaching those students. Same-day delivery of test scores might sound like a small operational shift, but it is not. It represents a fundamental change in how we value learning, motivation and accountability.

When students take a test and then, when they get results, are in a different grade with different teachers, the connection between effort and outcome fades. But when they receive results right away, the learning is still alive. Teachers can respond in real time, and students can immediately understand what their work meant.

I have seen the difference firsthand. In my classroom, I try to create urgency and excitement around learning every single day. My students walk in, the bell rings and there is already a problem on the board. We work from bell to bell, revisiting old concepts, introducing new ones and challenging them with problems they have never seen before. This approach pays off. My students have made exceptional progress, and I’ve received the maximum merit pay in each of the last two years.

The same principle that governs my class also applies to assessment. When students know how they performed right away, they feel that same sense of challenge and reward. They are accountable in the moment. They are motivated to improve. And just as importantly, they begin to believe that their effort matters.

We already see this with interim assessments, which are periodic checkpoints students take throughout the school year. Students walk out of those tests and say, “I did awesome,” because they know. That knowledge matters.

In the past, state test scores were not like this – they were released into the great void of summer. Students knew they would not be held accountable, and their efforts were mixed.

This year, we received the results by 7:00 p.m. the day of the test. The next day, there was a buzz around the school as kids shared both high scores and how much they had grown. The focus on growth allowed many of our lower-scoring students to celebrate how much they improved. It also allowed us to put incentives in place and reward their efforts.

The state’s ability to deliver scores quickly shows what is possible. Teachers see their time matters. Students see that their work matters. It gives us a tool that costs little but has an enormous impact. This is exactly the kind of change we should build on in Arkansas.

I came to teaching after an initial career in international banking. I saw how math is applied in the real world and how critical it is for opportunity. But I also saw people perform better when they had clear, timely information and were rewarded. Education should be no different.

Arkansas has made progress in recent years. In large part through elements of the LEARNS Act, we are asking more of our students. We are better supporting teachers. And we are proving that improvement is not just about big, expensive reforms. Sometimes it is about doing the basics better and faster.

I believe deeply in our students, and we often underestimate them. When we challenge them and support them, they do remarkable things. But we must build systems that match that belief. Getting test scores back quickly is not the whole solution, but it’s a clear signal that Arkansas is not standing still. We’re moving forward. And if we keep moving with this kind of urgency, there’s no limit to what our students can accomplish.

Editor’s note: Lou Petrone, part of the inaugural Arkansas Excellence in Teaching Fellowship, is an 8th-grade math and Algebra 1 teacher in Fayetteville Public Schools. The opinions expressed are those of the author.