Just Give Us a Little
One small change in Federal testing law could lead to significant improvements in state tests and the perception of state testing.
Read MoreCategory: Education Policy
In Search of the “Just Right” Connection Between Curriculum and Assessment
Considering Options Between Curriculum-Specific and Curriculum-Agnostic State Assessment State summative assessments are intentionally designed to be curriculum-agnostic. The design of these state assessments ignores the various instructional materials and other […]
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A Principled Approach to Accountability in 2022
Four Principles to Guide State Decisions about ESSA Accountability Systems A large part of the work my colleagues and I do at the Center is focused on helping our clients […]
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Can We Reduce Testing Time?
Issues and Considerations Regarding Time Spent on Testing It’s rare to find an issue that nearly everyone agrees with, but I think that the desire to reduce testing time is […]
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Accountability Doesn’t Need to Be Restarted. It Needs to Be Revised!
Making the Case for a New Approach to Federal School Accountability The U.S. Department of Education followed an all too familiar pattern of publishing important guidance just before the Christmas […]
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Charting a Course for School Accountability in 2022
Navigating Federal Requirements In the midst of the holiday season, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) released a draft FAQ addressing the requirements for school accountability in 2022 under ESSA. We […]
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Supporting the Improvement of Educators’ Assessment Literacy
Developing Needs-Based Sociocultural Approaches to Professional Development and Assessment Literacy This post is a summary of the main ideas from a symposium focused on educators’ assessment literacy presented at the […]
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Break the Glass and Pull the Alarm! The Signal From Spring 2021 State Testing Is Clear
A Call to Policymakers to Support Multi-Year Acceleration Efforts I and many others were concerned that the uncertainty with interpreting Spring 2021 state summative test scores because of all the […]
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Following Their Lead: Conversations About Innovative Assessment
Discussions with State Leaders Approved to Implement Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority Pilots Five states have been approved to implement innovative assessment pilots as part of the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) under […]
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Assessing the Academic Impact of COVID-19 on Summer 2021 Summative Assessments
Data from the Spring 2021 Summative Assessments Enhances Our Understanding of the Impact of the Pandemic As we approach 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence regarding the academic impact […]
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It’s Déjà vu All Over Again: Revisiting Assessment Recommendations With an Eye on Learning Acceleration
A Need to Support Learning Acceleration in School Year 2021-2022 I was asked recently if the Center was producing assessment recommendations for back-to-school this fall. My first reaction was, “wait, […]
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Making a Bad Situation Worse
Poor Grading Practices Lead to Negative Consequences The recent controversy over the awarding of the valedictorian and salutatorian at West Point High School in Mississippi highlighted long-documented problems with grading […]
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Rebuilding School Accountability One Step at a Time
The Process of Restarting Accountability Systems Will be Incremental, Not Immediate As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to subside in the United States, it may be reasonable to expect some education […]
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Implementing an Innovative State Assessment System While We’re Still Building It
Houston, I Think We Might Have a Problem One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and yet expecting different results. Recently, I have been […]
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Accountability as a Roadblock to Assessment Reform
Advocating for Changes to Federal Accountability Requirements to Enable Innovative Assessment Many of us at the Center for Assessment have led assessment reform for decades, including such noteworthy programs as […]
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Reflections From a Decade of Fall Testing
Compelling Reasons to Think Twice Before Moving 2021 Spring State Testing to the Fall When spring state testing was abruptly canceled last year, one of the first options considered briefly […]
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What’s Wrong With School Grading This Year? The Same Things That Are Wrong Every Year
What We Can Learn About Both Student Engagement and Grading Systems from Current Failure Rates EducationWeek recently printed a terrific summary by Stephen Sawchuk about the number of students receiving failing grades […]
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One-Sided “Advice” on Remote Test Administration Isn’t Fair to States
Acknowledging the Lack of Evidence that Remote Test Administration Can Measure Up to In-Person Testing A recent article in Forbes Magazine by Jim Cowen painted an irresponsibly rosy picture of remote test […]
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