Resources
To aid research, the Center provides a list of organizations working in the field of educational assessment and accountability. The top of this page provides an overview by category. The bottom offers specifics on each organization, including purpose, links to resources, and contact information.
| Government and Nonprofit Organizations that Serve States |
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Nonprofit and Advocacy Organizations |
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CCSSO is a nonprofit organization composed of officials who manage elementary and secondary school departments throughout the United States.
CCSSO works on behalf of the state agencies. It develops policy statements and runs project initiatives related to data collection,
assessment, accountability and training in benchmarking of standards, among other activities. CCSSO publishes reports
and state indicators and offers conference in support of its mission. Many
reports and indicators are available online for viewing or download, but others require a fee and must be ordered.
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CRESST conducts research on important topics related to K-12 educational testing.
It is affiliated with the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at UCLA and is funded by the US Dept. of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. CRESST offers a yearly conference, technical reports, policy papers, books, newsletters, guidebooks, catalogs, and more. The Web site provides a set of Scoring Rubrics, performance assessment models, and an assessment glossary. Its publications are directed to professionals with technical and academic focus, but they are extensive. Some materials are available for download, others must be ordered and require a fee.
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The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) focuses on how educational reforms in elementary and secondary education lead to improvements in instruction. CPRE is made up of researchers from 5 institutions--University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Stanford, Michigan and University of Wisconsin-Madison. CPRE conducts original research on educational reform and publishes research reports, policy briefs and newsletters on its research findings. Financial support comes from the US Dept. of Education, Pew Charitable Trusts, Center for Teaching and Policy, and the Carnegie Corp. of New York, among others.
Important links at CPRE are current and completed research projects, which includes a number of projects on accountability, evaluation, and performance; a list of meetings and special events; a news and calendar page, which lists more events, a publications section, which lists CPRE's policy briefs, research reports, books, journals, and accountability and assessment profiles. These profiles summarize a CPRE study of standards-based reform in all 50 states and provides detailed information on 10 of the states. You also can subscribe to CPRE news and research updates by sending an email to Robb Sewall. Of special note is CPRE's Kiosk page which provides an "information booth" of educational links on the Web. The kiosk provides contact information and links for national research and development centers, educational organizations, regional educational labs, and a list of media providing news on education and educational reform. |
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ECS helps state leaders involved in education policy to identify, develop and implement public policy for education.
ECS has a dedicated issues section on its Web site, online links, and news. These deal with general education policy, but ECS includes topics related to accountability, assessment, and standards. ECS holds the National Forum on Educational Policy, a yearly conference, offers a calendar of conferences related to US education policy, and conducts training workshops and research projects on education policy. A key factor of ECS research is its emphasis on identifying factors and programs that have proved successful in other states. ECS publishes papers on its research as well as compiles document collections, issue paks, and policy summaries in support of its mission. A list of publications is offered online. Most require a fee and must be ordered.
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The Education Trust was established in 1990 as a special project for K-12 reform. It has now grown into an independent, nonprofit organization that works to transform K-12 and colleges into institutions that serve all students, especially low-income, Latino, African-American, and Native American students.
Two of its objectives include reform of standards and accountability. In addition to policy advocacy and news, a main focus is collecting and publishing data in support of its mission. The Education Trust offers an annual conference each November. A key online resource is Ed Watch Interactive State & National Data Site, which provides data on performance and equity by state, race and class. It offers an extensive resources and links page. Ed Watch Reports, performance data summaries, and issue papers are available, but most must be ordered and require a fee.
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Education Week is a journal devoted to education news and issues. The online version mirrors the print version. It offers archived articles, links to online resources, search tools, and more. Education Week covers education in general, but includes topics on assessment, standards, testing, and accountability. Of specific interest are these areas:
| Hot
Topics |
In-depth
articles on particularly important news and current issues. |
| Issues |
Brief but thorough background essays on an extensive list of topics |
| Organizations |
Extensive collection of links to educational, philanthropic and government organizations. |
| Special Reports |
| State Info |
Provides state officers, programs, contact information, legislative news, performance data, and Ed Week news articles and online resources for the state. |
| Search |
Search Education Week's archived articles by author, title and keyword. |
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ERIC is the main clearing house for information and resources on assessment and evaluation. It is primarily known for its bibliographic database of information—one of the major bibliographic databases in the world. Besides the database, ERIC offers over 400 books and articles directly online in its Full Text Internet Library. The site also offers a test locator, advanced search tools, an online journal called Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, how-to guides, and a FAQ page listing resources on assessment and learning theory. ERIC is affiliated with the Department of Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation at the University of Maryland and operated by the US Dept. of Education.
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NBETPP is an independent organization that focuses on tests and testing throughout the US. It monitors admission, promotion, graduation, and school accountability testing by states, schools, and others.
It looks specifically for appropriate use of tests and technical adequacy in testing methods and application. Although independent, it is located in the School of Education at Boston College and most of the professional staff hold joint appointments on the NBETPP and the faculty at Boston College. It has a board of directors made up of educators, state officials, and community leaders from across the US. The NBETPP conducts research in support of its mission, compiles news about testing, and provides extensive online links and resources. Its articles and reports are available free for download.
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NCES is an office of the US Department of Education. It is the primary government entity responsible for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the United States and other nations.
NCES offers a wealth of statistics, online resources and interactive indexing
and search tools. Of note are: the Encyclopedia
of ED Stats, the
Quick Tables and Figures, and an
Education Locator for US libraries, colleges, and public and private
schools. NCES offers pages devoted to popular
NCES reports and educational
surveys. It has an extensive list of statistical publications. The
Web site has a sophisticated publication
search tool that searches ERIC, all Dept. of Ed publications, the
government printing office publications, and the Federal Depository libraries.
The search tool also links to other Dept. of Education and government
Web sites. Many publications are available for download or viewing online,
but certain publications must be ordered. Most publications are free.
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OERI is an office within the US Department of Education. It provides leadership and funding for projects to improve education, collects statistics and data on the progress of improvement, and provides technical assistance to help educational reform and improvement. Of note on OERI's Web site are areas devoted to Hot Topics in Education, library and information services, a list of publications reporting on the group's projects and supported issues, links to research resources, and an Education Search page.
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The Pew Charitable Trusts addresses critical issues that effect social change. It provides funding for initiatives in culture, education, the environment and more. Of interest to assessment and accountability is the Trusts' Education Program, which offers funding to initiatives that seek, in part, to raise the performance of students at all levels of education, especially the capabilities of students to learn for understanding and to acquire the literacies needed for productive employment.
Its Web site is divided by program category, so that the segment on Education offers news and other resources on assessment, standards, performance, testing and related topics. Of note are the Web site's list of Education Grantee Reports, a list of Education Program publications, education-related Pew Produced Reports, and a list of education grantee Web sites. A very useful tool is the news search, which searches archived news as well as grantee reports and press releases, Web-casts, audio-video programs and more.
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There are many online guides to state government agencies, but most are not very comprehensive. The links below are the best.
| Yahoo State Links |
The Yahoo site provides links to all official US state government agencies. It is comprehensive, covering all agencies, offices, and departments in each state. However, it includes ALL state agencies, not just those devoted to education. |
| NCIEA.org |
The Center for Assessment itself provides a state links page. The Center's list offers each state's main Web site plus lists official state agencies devoted to education, accountability, standards, testing, assessment, and related departments. |
| Education Week |
Provides information for each state, with links to important state government agencies and non-government organizations working in education. It also lists key state education statistics, legislative updates, state report cards, and relevant articles from Education Week. |
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The US Department of Education was established in 1980 by Congress. Part
of the Department's mission is to help state and local educational institutions
improve education in the US.
The Department provides financial grants and other support for research, evaluation and sharing of information. The Web site is a gateway to all Department activities, grants, news, research, and publications. Of particular importance are: the news summary on the home page, which lists recent reports and publications; ERIC digests; educational publications online, a search tool for all Department publications, the nation's report card NAEP, and ED Initiatives, an archive of the department's biweekly progress reports on its initiatives, listed by year and searchable.
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WestEd is one of 10 Regional Educational Laboratories that has been designated by the US Department of Education to provide national leadership in the area of assessment. Specialists at WestEd create resource materials in assessment design and provide services in the development, implementation, and evaluation of state and local assessments — tests that measure the performance of teachers as well as students.
As one of the nation’s Regional Educational Laboratories, WestEd serves Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah, but its work extends throughout the United States and internationally. Particular resources include:
| Resources
Catalog |
Lists resources available at WestEd, including online articles, research
projects, books, CDs, newsletters, and videos. Many are by WestEd
staff. Some articles require a fee, while others are free. Books,
CDs, and videos must be ordered. |
| R&D
Alert Newsletters |
Published
each quarter, each newsletter reviews R+D around a particular theme.
Recent newsletters have focused on assessment and evaluation. Available
in PDF format for viewing online or downloading. (Free) |
| Projects |
List
of WestEd frequently requested projects, with a link to a full description
of each, including staff and contact information (free). |
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Publications |
Publications
available for download in PDF format. All require a fee. |
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AFT represents 1 million teachers, school support staff, higher education faculty, health care professionals, and state and municipal employees.
AFT is a registered trade union and member of the AFL-CIO. A large part of AFT efforts is devoted to improving working conditions and salaries for its members, but it also offers information and resources on best practices, teaching excellence, and achievement. Of note are: a list of AFT publications, a section called AFT on the Issues which are AFT position statements on key issues facing teachers and education, AFT Reports and Resolution Booklets offering reports, surveys, and best practice guides on a range of topics, including improving city schools, achievement, standards, doing what works, and teacher quality. Also of note is AFT's conference Quest 2001 and Selected Web Resources listing local K-12 Web sites, AFT local sites, education tools, and more.
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NEA is the oldest association of its kind in the US representing more than 2.5 million members working in K-12 and universities. Its primary focus is teachers and teaching, but a secondary focus is support for and defense of public education in the United States.
NEA works at the local level to improve teaching conditions and salaries. It lobbies local, state and national governments in support of public education, including increased funding. NEA also promotes higher professional standards for teachers, through support for such programs as National Board Certification, which assesses teachers' proficiency through a portfolio of video and audio performance samples, student samples, written essays, and standard tests in content areas. Key resources on the Web site include: an Issues section, an Online References and Resources section, News, and a Calendar of Events. Of note are sections devoted to Student Achievement and Teacher Quality, and public education statistics, which offer conference proceedings, reports, data, CDs, videos, and other resources. Most must be ordered and require a fee. NEA also offers a Professional Library Online, where general publications are offered. Some are available for download (free), while others must be ordered and require a fee.
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