Tilting at Windmills: Classroom Grading Practices That Won’t Go Away
Bad classroom grading practices persist, even though they’re based on technical quicksand. Here are four ways to improve them.
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How Reading Lists Can Improve Assessments
Required-reading lists can be controversial, but they can help level the playing field for large-scale reading tests by reducing the transfer demand on students.
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Human-Guided Generative AI Across the Survey Lifecycle
In education, surveys are a crucial tool. Where can AI help in survey design, implementation, and reporting, and where is human expertise still essential?
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Leading Education Systems With Purpose in an Incoherent Environment
Education leaders are often asked to make coherent decisions in an incoherent environment. But decisions that fit together logically are important.
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Rethinking Career-Readiness Measures
RILS 2026 grapples with measuring students’ career-readiness. It’s especially important now, with AI, shifts in the economy, and persistent skills gaps.
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How Can School Accountability Reflect the Purposes of Education?
To decide what accountability systems should measure, we must articulate the purposes of schooling. Then we can build systems that reflect them.
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Making Sense of Achievement Trends
We should pay attention to achievement trends, but recognize that trends rarely have a single, universal explanation.
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When an Assessment Changes, Communication Planning Matters
When an assessment changes, it’s important to build understanding early. Constituencies need to know what changed, why, and what it means for them.
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Reclaiming Accountability: From Labels to Learning
Accountability identifies schools that need support, but it must do better to help educators understand the problem and what to do next.
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Evaluating the Impact of Statewide School Accountability Systems
Are school accountability systems working as intended? As the U.S. Education Department offers states flexibility, it’s time to examine the evidence.
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Measuring Durable Competencies: Right-Sizing Expectations
Pressure to measure durable competencies is surging. But it’s challenging: there are limitations to what the data actually tell us.
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Supporting Systemic Changes in High School Math
Making deep changes in high school math assessment requires sustained support. These two new guides for state and district leaders can help.
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What We’re Up To: Center Presentations at NCME & AERA
Check out our lineup of fascinating presentations at two of the assessment field’s big conferences, NCME and AERA.
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Measuring Durable Skills: Why States Need More Than a Test
A large-scale test isn’t enough to measure durable skills. A broader view of assessment opens up a nuanced, more promising landscape.
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Assessing Civic Learning
The editors of a new book discuss how assessment can support civics learning and students’ engagement in civics.
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Using School and Classroom Climate Surveys to Improve Learning Environments (Part 2)
Several key questions arise when school leaders decide to use a climate survey to learn about students’ experiences. We explore them and offer guidance.
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Using School and Classroom Climate Surveys to Improve Learning Environments (Part 1)
Education leaders seeking insight into students’ learning experiences have a powerful, low-cost tool at their disposal: school climate surveys.
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Reflecting on 2025 and Looking Ahead to 2026
2025 brought many challenges to K-12 education. The Center for Assessment moves into 2026 with a clear-eyed vision in changing times.
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