Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states temporary flexibility…

This appendix volume supplements "Evaluating the Federal Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority: Early Implementation and Progress of State Efforts to Develop New Statewide Academic Assessments. Evaluation Report. NCEE 2023-004" analyzing the early progress of the first five assessment systems participating in the Innovative…

Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states flexibility from…

This article reports on why states are quitting the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). The two consortia sought to develop state-of-the-art assessments that focused on problem solving and the application of knowledge, and that moved away from former tests'…

This issue of ETS Policy Notes (Vol 21, No. 2) highlights the discussion from "Taking Action: Navigating the Common Core State Standards and Assessments," a conference co-convened by ETS and the National Urban League (NUL) in February 2013. Part of the Saturdays at ETS series, the conference brought together researchers, funders,…

School librarians and other specialists should take note of the new wave of computer-based assessments required by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), testing that is only now beginning to get off the ground. The new testing necessitates that districts possess the right hardware, install the requisite software, and, in some cases, create…

This paper explores Rizvi and Lingard's (2010) idea of the "local vernacular" of the global education policy trend of using high-stakes testing to increase accountability and transparency, and by extension quality, within schools and education systems in Australia. In the first part of the paper a brief context of the policy trajectory…

The purpose of this issue brief is to provide a comprehensive overview of the policies behind the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and to outline some of the initiatives now in place to address the needs of English language learners (ELLs) in relation to the CCSS. This issue brief contains the appendices: (1) Assessment Consortia Time Lines; and…

California has embarked on a major new wave of curriculum reform with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the new English Language Development (ELD) standards, and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The adoption of the CCSS builds a legacy of standards-based education reform in California that began with the…

A comprehensive assessment system is one in which three types of assessments: summative, benchmark, and formative assessments are routinely administered to all students in K-12 classrooms. The first part of this report summarizes the research on comprehensive assessment systems and provides clarity in terms of how each individual assessment type…

California has embarked on a major new wave of curriculum reform with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the new English Language Development (ELD) standards, and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The adoption of the CCSS builds a legacy of standards-based education reform in California that began with the…

As the number of end of course (EOC) tests has increased along with an expansion of their role in accountability, development and implementation decisions are more important than ever. This process starts with articulating how the assessment fits into a credible theory of action that describes how all elements of the system will work together to…

This paper first provides a critic of the implementation of compulsory national assessment protocols internationally, and then nationally through a review of the implementation process used for the introduction of National Standards in New Zealand, and National Testing in Norwegian mainstream schools. It then reviews the impact of these two…

Many students with disabilities require testing accommodations in order to participate in testing programs on an equal basis with their nondisabled peers. Such accommodations provide students with the ability to demonstrate mastery of skills and attainment of knowledge without being limited or unfairly restricted due to the effects of a…

This report presents findings about accountability from two longitudinal studies, the National Longitudinal Study of "No Child Left Behind" (NLS-"NCLB"), and the Study of State Implementation of Accountability and Teacher Quality Under "No Child Left Behind" (SSI-"NCLB"). The research teams for these two…