Educational assessments provide data that give policymakers a “snapshot” of how students are performing and serve as a means of holding teachers, schools, and districts accountable. Many contend, however, that assessments could do more to promote deeper learning in K–12 environments. One interesting possibility is the use of Curriculum-Embedded Performance Read more
A new article by Jason Tanz for Wired Magazine makes the argument that big data already reigns supreme, and for the most part helps us, in our lives, so why shouldn’t it do the same in education? Tanz understands that there are legitimate concerns from parents and education leaders about Read more
Achieve’s ninth annual “Closing the Expectations Gap” report, released recently, shows the progress that states have made in advancing college and career readiness while also revealing that much work remains to be done to ensure that all students are academically prepared to succeed in college and careers after high school. Read more
As employers and postsecondary institutions increasingly demand students and workers equipped with high-level skills, many states are exploring performance assessments as part of their K-12 education strategies. Unlike multiple-choice tests, these assessments require students to construct answers, produce products, or perform activities; they allow educators to assess student Read more
As several of the assessment consortia begin field-testing this spring, public interest and questions are increasing rapidly. We hope these up-to-date one-page summaries of each of the six multistate consortia are helpful in your communications activities. The Comprehensive Assessment Consortia: PARCC http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/k12_center_parcc.pdf Smarter Balanced http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/k12_center_smarter_balanced.pdf Summary of Key Similarities and Read more
Assessments, understood as tools for tracking what and how well students have learned, play a critical role in the classroom. Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards develops an approach to science assessment to meet the vision of science education for the future as it has been elaborated in Read more
With an increased focus on student assessment and its application in classrooms across the United States, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) has officially launched a new informational website to initiate a meaningful dialogue among educators on assessment and to build “assessment literacy” skills for teachers and school administrators, in particular. Read more
After two-plus years of work, the Gordon Commission recently released a public policy statement designed to “stimulate a productive national conversation about assessment and its relationship to teaching and learning.” The Gordon Commission believes that now is a “remarkable opportunity to re-conceptualize the purposes of educational assessments.” The Gordon Commission Read more
WestEd believes that the Common Core State Standards offer educators a unique opportunity to use formative assessment to help raise student achievement. They hope to help make this happen with the release of three new papers about formative assessment. WestEd, an agency that works with education and other communities to Read more
In an update to the story that this blog has been tracking for some time (see our two past blogs about this subject here and here), the US Department of Education has given its strongest confirmation yet that it is willing to embrace a model of judging educational progress and Read more
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) released a set of sample assessment items and performance tasks online yesterday. Developed in collaboration with educators and content experts, the sample items and tasks are meant to help teachers, administrators, and policymakers better understand the Common Core State Standards and prepare for Read more
Two state consortia—Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium—have made great strides to develop new assessment systems ready for use in two years. Over the summer, for example, they released sample items and tasks and are putting together teams of educators Read more
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) recently released sample assessment items. They come complete with a new way of categorizing questions, both for mathematics — where the questions are of Type I, Type II or Type III — and in ELA, where they are EBSRs, Read more
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), a 23-state consortium working together to create next generation assessments, released its first set of item and task prototypes for both English language arts/literacy and mathematics. The prototypes are illustrative of how the critical content and skills found in Read more
As teachers head back to their classrooms, a prevailing question is how to implement the Common Core and prepare students for the associated exams—which aren’t ready yet. Two consortia tasked with developing common assessments to support the Common Core (PARCC and Smarter Balanced) have begun to work with private vendors Read more
What does it mean to be “college ready?” This is the question that became the center of debate at the June meeting of leaders from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), one of the consortia tasked with creating assessment systems for the new Common Core. Read more