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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Subtraction in Assessment and Accountability (Re)Design
Resisting our urge to add design layers to assessment and accountability systems—and subtracting instead—can produce better solutions.
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Right-Sizing ESSA Accountability
States can create an accountability mix that right-sizes federal requirements and their own priorities, by blending or separating the two.
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How Do State Leaders Want to Change the Every Student Succeeds Act?
ESSA is widely criticized, but our new survey shows that most assessment and accountability leaders favor few changes.
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Is Your Accountability System Working the Way It Should?
Few states evaluate their systems to see if they’re working well. We examined one state’s consistency in identifying the right schools for support.
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Moving Education From Accountability to Shared Responsibility
Shifting from an accountability mindset to reciprocal responsibility could transform the way schools, districts and states work toward improvement.
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Reimagining Balanced Assessment Systems
An important new book from the National Academy of Education can support state and district leaders in building balanced assessment systems.
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Peer Review: Can Emerging Programs Meet the Requirements?
Through-year and other novel test designs face challenges in peer review. Three changes by the U.S. Department of Education could improve the process.
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Do We Really Need to Test All Students Every Year?
We can reduce testing in schools without sacrificing meaningful annual reports on students’ learning.
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Can We Reduce Testing in K-12 Schools?
State testing has long been criticized for many reasons. We undertook a study to examine what tradeoffs might be necessary to reduce the footprint of state testing. Here’s a preview of our early findings.
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Federal Innovative Assessment Pilot: Now Open to All States
In a bid to jump-start the program, USED expands the IADA. Nearly $22 million is potentially available to support work on new state assessments.
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School Accountability Is Broken
It’s time to create school accountability systems that recognize the unique roles and responsibilities of states, districts and schools.
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Building Innovative Assessments in an Era of Accountability
After Georgia pulled out of a federal assessment pilot, the state’s testing chief reflects on the policy changes necessary to support real test improvement.
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How to Improve School Accountability Now
We don’t refute calls for more sweeping reform, but we must take swift action to make school accountability work better right now.
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4 Key Questions States Should Ask About College- and Career-Readiness
States must reconsider their content standards, assessments, and testing practices to keep up with two important trends in college- and career-readiness.
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It’s Time for an Innovative Accountability Pilot
Federal regulations limit states’ innovations in assessment. More substantial innovation can happen only with more flexibility in accountability.
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Slow the Flow of Your RFPs
Advancing educational assessment, like through-year assessment programs, can be supported by changes to the RFP process.
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Can We Stop Obsessing About the Effects of Remote Instruction on Student Learning?
Let’s start talking about student learning recovery and stop focusing on the impact of remote instruction during the pandemic.
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