Early childhood assessments can provide important information to guide instruction and inform policy. Given the widespread and growing use of statewide kindergarten entry assessments (KEAs), in particular, it is important that policymakers understand how to choose and use assessments wisely. This brief summarizes research showing how authentic…

High-quality early childhood programs aim to foster children's learning through developmentally appropriate practices and environments. Early childhood assessments, when well designed and well implemented, can support developmentally appropriate early learning experiences by providing information to guide instruction and support whole child…

This paper describes high quality teaching practices in two schools that produce exceptional growth for all kinds of students. These practices focus on making the most of instructional time and exposing students to high quality content in a variety of contexts. They prove teachers don't need to choose between differentiating to meet students'…

In the spring of 2015, Illinois students will take new state assessments that, like the new Illinois Learning Standards, challenge them to think deeply, write often and defend their reasoning--all skills they will need in the world. The Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) covers math and English Language Arts…

Data-based instructional programs have proliferated in American schools despite limited evidence of their effectiveness in improving educator practice and raising student achievement. We report results from a two-year school-randomized evaluation of the Achievement Network (ANet), a program providing schools with standards-aligned interim…

In a very short period during the spring and summer of 2012, researchers at the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) and the Illinois Education Research Council (IERC) collected data from respondents in five districts across Illinois to examine how school districts in the state approach designing and implementing new…

In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as the nation's major law governing public schools. ESSA retains the requirement that states test all students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school, as well as the requirement that…

Sparking a flame of mutual professional development at Twin Groves Middle School, in Illinois' Kildeer District 96 was a formative assessment. "Formatives," as the practitioners call them, are a technique usually adopted as a safety net for struggling students. But as districts are finding out, they are also effective at honing teacher…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the implementation of formative assessment on student achievement in elementary algebra classes at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago, IL. The formative assessment is defined in this case as frequent, cumulative, time-restricted, multiple-choice quizzes with immediate constructive feedback.…

This case study offers an in-depth look at how one school achieved change in its culture and in its approach to curriculum and instruction. The unit of analysis for this single case study is South Loop Elementary School (SLES) and the time period is from August 2002 to June of 2007, during which SLES students demonstrated sharply improved…

Teachers at Woodlawn Middle School in Long Grove, Illinois are no different than most. They were discouraged by the amount of testing taking place in their classrooms, frustrated with not having the kind of data they needed, and feeling overwhelmed by the data they did have. The teachers wanted to make better schoolwide instructional decisions,…

This second progress report on the Webber School evaluation project in Urbana, Illinois, outlines radical changes which were implemented to humanize the school environment and to reverse the downward trend in academic achievement. Also described are the general evaluation plan used in the Urbana school district, and the design and instruments used…

The Illinois State Board of Education's Advisory Policy on Evaluation and Assessment encourages districts to develop and implement total student assessment and program evaluation policies. The Board suggests that these policies include provisions for (1) a process for curriculum review; (2) a range of local standards for achievement in…

An application of evaluation methodology to innovative educational programs through a case study of a Chicago suburban high school program for alternative education is presented. The evaluation methodology encompasses the difficulty in combining comparative programs, individual-diagnostic, and individual developmental measures, the selection of…