If the Georgia Board of Education is serious about replacing the annual Milestones test, then it ought to try something that would be considered unique. Forget about placating the federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., and focus on what is best for teachers and students. Do something accommodating to the learning process for a change.

Two pilot programs started in 2019 are experimenting with new tests and testing methods, one of which recently announced it was suspending its effort. The objective is to find a way to test students — though, in actuality, public school systems — to determine where they stand against the national average.

Change is long overdue. For years educators have been complaining about the annual national standardized test cutting into teaching time. Many claim they end up “teaching the test,” a test based on what federal bureaucrats deem is important knowledge.

Georgia is not the only state digging around for something new. Others are too, including North Carolina, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

One option popular with some in Georgia would be to supplant the spring Milestones with smaller tests throughout the school year. There are several advantages to this approach. It is a quicker assessment of progress, which would open the door to earlier adjustments. As it is now, an assessment is made at the end of the year, too late for any changes to be made to the benefit of the tested group.

Since formative assessments are already used by most school districts in the state, it would not require a lot of tinkering. School systems use these assessments to monitor student progress. It allows them to make alterations where necessary sooner rather than later.

There are other advantages. Formative assessments would reduce the amount of classroom time dedicated to testing and do away with weeks of monotonous review — teaching the test — before students take the Milestones.

State Sen. Lindsey Tippins, R-Marietta, is one fan of this concept. “The promise of a formative assessment agency is you get much more current feedback, so it can direct instruction,” Tippins says.

To be fair, we add this warning: Do not hold your breath waiting for this to happen. Nothing that makes sense tends to be popular to the U.S. Department of Education or to any other bureaucracy in Washington.