The Challenges of Assessing 21st Century Competencies
A new report from the Center explores the challenges of assessing 21st century competencies and offers practical advice.
Read MoreCategory: State
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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Assessment Score Reports Must Get Better!
Two relatively easy changes in states’ assessment score reports can go a long way toward helping users understand the results.
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Equity and the Accessibility Game Plan
Key strategies from the world of accessibility offer helpful guidance in advancing equity in educational testing in K12 schools.
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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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Assessment Consequences Matter: A Look Back at RILS 2024
Our annual conference asked an important question: How do we minimize the unintended negative consequences of assessment for individuals and systems?
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Stop Trying to Use Commercial Interim Tests for Instructional Purposes
The concept of “strategic abandonment” sheds light on the appropriate uses of commercial interim assessments. Instructional utility isn’t one of them.
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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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Strengthening Ties Between Accountability and School Improvement
Do school accountability systems support effective school improvement practices? If not, where is the system breaking down and how can we fix it?
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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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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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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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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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Through-Year Assessment: Are We Asking Too Much?
The Center’s latest paper provides sound advice for the states exploring through-year assessment right now, cautioning that this approach comes with serious challenges and tradeoffs.
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Reframing Accountability: Build Closer Connections Between School Identification and School Improvement
States can better support school improvement by building stronger connections between accountability design and school improvement.
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Accountability Systems Must Offer More Than School Grades
School accountability systems encompass more than what is reflected in school grading systems, which can skew how school quality is seen.
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