Assessment

Assessment

Assessment provides crucial insight into student learning. In a well-balanced system of large-scale summative, interim/curriculum-embedded and formative assessments, leaders at each level-state, district, school and classroom-can use assessment results to support learning. We help leaders identify their highest-priority assessment uses and design systems to meet their needs.


Recent Assessment Projects

National leadership on state assessment practice

We facilitate ongoing conversations with 40-plus states on the technical and policy issues that support good practice in statewide assessment. The collaborative is based at the Council of Chief State School Officers; our facilitation is part of our longstanding partnership with CCSSO.

Through-year design

Montana wanted to make its assessments more useful for instruction. We are supporting the state in building a through-year system that yields results several times a year, with the intent to provide information for classroom teachers to gain insight into student learning before the end of the year.

21st century competencies

The International Baccalaureate explored ways to define and assess hard-to-measure competencies like creativity and ethical thinking. To support IB, we produced a series of literature reviews defining these complex skills and providing recommendations for assessing these skills.


Recent Assessment Blog Posts and Papers

2004 Reidy Interactive Lecture Series

Incorporating Measures of Student Growth Into State Accountability Systems October 7th – 8th Agenda Session IValidity Considerations When Measuring GrowthScott […]
October 8, 2004

Vertically-Articulated Content Standards

This presentation outlines some basic requirements and methods for creating vertical score scales. It also discusses how to adapt alignment […]
October 7, 2004

Vertically Articulated Grade Level Expectations and Test Specifications

Concrete suggestions for how the appropriate use of test specifications can help address some of the concerns regarding the use […]
October 7, 2004

Validity Considerations When Measuring Growth

What questions should be asked about vertical scales and growth modeling in a construct-validity context?
October 7, 2004

Setting Standards Across Grades 3 Through 8: More than Choosing the Right Method

The Center organized a standard-setting session for a 2004 conference. The session focused on standard-setting as a process that begins […]
June 25, 2004

Extending Grade-Level Expectations

The lack of coherence among the different levels of assessment within the system often leaves teachers, schools, and districts torn […]
June 23, 2004

Alignment by Design

How can states build alignment between what they value for truly improving teaching and learning and what they identify for […]
June 23, 2004

K-12 Education Testing: Better, Faster, and Cheaper

This paper is a call by Jack Grayson, Chair of the American Productivity and Quality Center, for applying methods used […]
June 2, 2004

Scalability: Adapting Tech Solutions to Fit States’ Assessment and Accountability Needs

This presentation, part of the U.S. Department of Education’s 2004 Leadership Summit on Technology, Assessment, and Accountability, examines the life […]
March 12, 2004

2003 Reidy Interactive Lecture Series

Improving the Validity of States’ Standards-Based Assessment and Accountability Systems October 9th – 10th Agenda Session I Building Legally Defensible […]
October 10, 2003