Assessments are one of the most important--and often misunderstood--elements of education. In most cases, tests are administered by the state as well as by districts and schools. Assessments at each of these levels have distinct purposes, yield different information, and are part of a powerful, coordinated approach to improving student outcomes.…

This document is written primarily for policy makers and state department of education staff who are considering through-year assessments, as well as consultants and contractors state departments rely on. The document identifies essential things to consider when designing or evaluating a through-year assessment program. The paper is organized into…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Standards Briefs explain the rules the WWC uses to evaluate the quality of studies for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers. This brief explains what baseline equivalence is and why it matters. As part of the WWC review process for certain types of studies, reviewers assess whether the intervention group…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 (Public Law 114-95) requires each state to create a plan for its statewide accountability system. In particular, ESSA calls for state plans that include strategies for reporting education outcomes by grade for all students and for economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and…

Assessments come in many forms in part because they serve many purposes, and those purposes often vary by the stakeholders they support. Students, parents, teachers, and school, district and state leaders may all be end users of the information provided by various assessments. This brief supports state leaders' understanding of assessments by…

This guide is addressed to policy officials, program providers, and researchers who are seeking to: (1) identify and implement social programs backed by valid evidence of effectiveness; or (2) sponsor or conduct an evaluation to determine whether a program is effective. The guide provides a brief overview of which studies can produce valid…

No one has a bigger stake in teaching effectiveness than students. Nor are there any better experts on how teaching is experienced by its intended beneficiaries. Only recently have many policymakers and practitioners come to recognize that--when asked the right questions, in the right ways--students can be an important source of information on the…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were created in response to the shortcomings of No Child Left Behind era standards and assessments. Among those failings were the poor quality of content standards and assessments and the variability in content expectations and proficiency targets across states, as well as concerns related to the economic…

The purpose of this Research and Policy Brief is to provide state and local policymakers with a comprehensive understanding of the measures used in teacher evaluation--their strengths, limitations, and current use in policy and practice. This brief will underscore aspects of evaluation policies currently aligned with best practices as well as…

Since 1973, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has gathered information about student achievement in mathematics. Results of these periodic assessments, produced in print and web-based formats, provide valuable information to a wide variety of audiences. They inform citizens about the nature of students' comprehension of the…

Quality measures were originally developed for research aimed at describing the settings that children spend time in and identifying the characteristics of these environments that contribute to children's development. They were also developed to guide improvements in practice. Increasingly, however, measures of quality are being used for further…

This paper notes the proliferation of literature about the characteristics of Japanese education and culture. Generalizations ranging from reports of remarkable progress in subject disciplines to praise of Japanese technology, social and individual behavior, and systematic accomplishments have been cited. It is contended in this study that some of…

A summary is provided of a large-scale needs assessment research project in Colorado that tested the validity of several statistical procedures or models for indirectly estimating the need for alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services across geographic subregions using a Colorado Social Health Survey sample of 4,745 adults. (SLD)

Mississippi students are now being tested at almost every grade level. Passage of the Functional Literacy Examination (FLE) will be a prerequisite for a high school diploma beginning with the 1989 graduating class. This emphasis on testing, without an accompanying commitment to ensuring all students equal access to a full academic core curriculum,…

The results of an evaluation of Vermont's statewide assessment initiative are presented, with information about the implementation of the program, its effects on educational practice, the analytic challenge presented by the portfolio scoring process, the reliability and validity of portfolio scores, and the tensions between assessment and…