Education Policy

Education Policy

Educators and policymakers need supportive policies to improve schools. We partner with states and districts to develop those policies and advocate their adoption at the district, state and federal levels. In papers, blog posts and presentations nationally, we highlight good policy practices.


Recent Education Policy Projects

Maryland

We partnered with Maryland as it undertook a comprehensive re-envisioning of both its assessment and accountability systems. The Center helped develop and coordinate a broad-based task force to help define policy priorities, which we documented in a comprehensive report that outlined clear recommendations to improve assessment and accountability.

National Assessment Governing Board

Scott Marion is one of three measurement professionals on the 26-member board that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” In this role, he helps support the technical quality of the assessment and advocates for strong policies to support it.

Policy briefs, blogs and webinars

We work to build support for federal and state policies to support high-quality assessment and accountability systems that ensure that all students have a fair opportunity to learn meaningful content and skills. Two short papers, “The Case for State Testing” and “The Case for Statewide School Accountability Systems,” are recent examples of this work.


Recent Education Policy Blog Posts and Papers

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 […]
April 21, 2022

The Operational Best Practices for Accountability

The Operational Best Practices for Accountability are intended to provide states with guidance and criteria for the design, development, implementation, […]
April 6, 2022

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 […]
February 9, 2022

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 […]
January 26, 2022

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 […]
January 20, 2022

Assessment Framework Development Processes

By describing what is to be assessed and how to assess it, assessment frameworks play a pivotal role in testing […]
December 21, 2021

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 […]
November 23, 2021

Through-Year Assessment: Threading the Needle

From Session 4 of the 2021 Convening on Through-Year Assessment: The final session will involve turning the tables. Center for […]
November 16, 2021

District Assessment System Design Toolkit

Designing a balanced district assessment system is difficult work that requires stakeholders with different levels of responsibility and authority to […]
November 13, 2021

Request for Proposals Toolkit

Writing requests for proposals (RFPs) can be daunting and confusing. But a well-written RFP for state assessment services can save […]
November 13, 2021