State summative educational assessment is about to begin in earnest. Rightfully, many are raising questions about the quality, meaning, and appropriate use of the assessment results. This document was written to support state educational agencies (SEAs) and their assessment providers in devising effective and efficient analysis plans. This…

This report discusses frameworks and assessment development approaches to consider fairness, opportunity to learn, and consequences of test use in the design and use of assessments administered to diverse populations. Examples include the integrated design and appraisal framework and the sociocognitively based evidence-centered design approach.…

This briefing note considers the place for statutory testing in primary schools during 2020-21, in the light of the COVID crisis. The English system of primary statutory assessment, culminating in SATs tests in Year 6, was suspended during the 2020 lockdown. Yet many questions remain about how primary assessment should resume, given that COVID-19…

States increasingly are incorporating Kindergarten Entry Assessments (KEAs) into their comprehensive assessment systems with the goal of helping educators identify gaps in children's competencies, target instruction to children's individual needs, engage parents to better support their child's learning, and identify needs for expanding and…

The Rhode Island 2020 Vision for Education defines an ideal Rhode Island graduate to be "one who is well prepared for postsecondary education, work, and life. He or she can think critically and collaboratively and can act as a creative, self-motivated, culturally competent learner and citizen." The updated Secondary School Regulations,…

Just like all the high-stakes tests that determine students' futures nowadays, The Chorizo Test is a standardized test rooted in the culture of the test makers. It was originally created to be used with students in teacher training programs to sensitize them to the pitfalls inherent in standardized pencil-and-paper tests, such as linguistic bias…

The proper use of psychological tests requires that the measurement instruments have adequate psychometric properties, such as reliability and validity, and that the professionals who use the instruments have the necessary expertise. In this article, we present the first review of tests published in Spain, carried out with an assessment model…

This report describes the purposes of benchmark assessments and provides recommendations for selecting and using benchmark assessments--addressing validity, alignment, reliability, fairness and bias and accessibility, instructional sensitivity, utility, and reporting issues. We also present recommendations on building capacity to support schools'…

There's accountability and then there's the testing craze an iatrogenic practice that undermines real learning. Hedrick documents the negative effects of testing, giving teachers another weapon in their arsenal against mindless preparation for high-stakes tests.

This article is concerned with the relationship between assessment information and teacher planning. In the UK, although planning used to be central to characterizations of formative assessment, the most recent government proclamations under the Assessment for Learning banner offer no clear role for teachers making decisions about what to do based…

Physical educators must analyze their purposes behind grading students. Suggestions to consider when formulating a grading strategy are offered. (DF)

This article describes the findings of studies conducted on a large-scale, classroom-based performance assessment of literacy for the early grades designed to provide information that is useful for reporting, as well as teaching. Technical studies found the assessment to be a promising instrument that is reliable and valid. Follow-up studies of…

Despite their shortcomings, standardized tests provide numerical, intelligible data on how a child, school, or district is performing and vital information about patterns of strengths and weaknesses among students in a classroom, school, or district. A sensible compromise in the testing debate would be helpful. (MLH)

Discusses how online programs are using new strategies of testing, both to teach students and to prove that distance education works; however, some educators question their efficacy. (EV)

The importance of educational accountability and assessment literacy is recognized as a long-term challenge to the educational system. The complexities in becoming an assessment literate and provide an opportunity to the educators to display their effective learning is discussed.