The assessment movement that has emerged on American college campuses over the last twenty years emphasizes the need to carefully articulate the particular outcomes colleges seek for students, and it demands that faculty and administrators provide evidence of their students' success with respect to these outcomes. It also requires that this…

Grading and reporting are foundational elements in nearly every educational system. Grading represents teachers' evaluations, formative or summative, of students' performance. Reporting is how the results of those evaluations are communicated to students, parents, or others. Because of their fundamental nature, educators must ensure that grading…

Higher education has made impressive progress concerning student learning outcomes assessment practices. Yet--despite the assumption that better assessment would lead to better student learning--few examples of demonstrable student learning improvement exist at the academic degree or university levels. In 2014 Fulcher, Good, Coleman, and Smith…

When students, parents, educators, and partners have the right information to make decisions, students excel. One of the most powerful sources of information for families, educators, and policymakers about education is the high-quality analysis and research conducted by trained and engaged experts across the country. Their work gives us answers…

This field report is the ninth in a series produced by the Center on Innovations in Learning's League of Innovators. The series describes, discusses, and analyzes policies and practices that enable personalization in education. This report introduces sessions from the "Conversations with Innovators" event held at Temple University, June…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replaced the No Child Left Behind Act with great fanfare and enthusiasm. Granting more power to states and curbing what was seen as federal overreach was well received. However, the new legislation maintains a predominately test-based accountability system with a federal mandate for interventions in well over…

There are many definitions that are attributable to the meaning of sustainability. Sustainability can be viewed as long-lasting, effective result of a project, venture, action, or investment without consuming additional future resources. Because of the wide nature of its applicability, a universal measure of sustainability is hard to come by. This…

The author reflects on his experiences with standardized tests, emphasizing the dreadful consequences of our continued allegiance to them. In doing so, the author expounds on how public schools have kowtowed to a harmful societal preference for results regardless of processes, decision-makers' desires to quantify learning, and the desires of…

Due to the broad acceptance of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other comparative studies as instruments of policymaking, its accuracy is essential. This article attempts to demonstrate omissions in the conceptualisation, and consequently in calculation and interpretation, of one of the central points of PISA 2006 and…

Federal education policy will soon undergo a major revision, with significant consequences for the state's own policy and practices. This report seeks to help federal and state policymakers consider this restructuring and one of its core questions: How should schools and school districts be held accountable for the academic progress of their…

The upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides an opportunity to reconsider what factors school performance-reporting systems should include. Critics of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have pointed to the narrowing effects of the law's focus on mathematics and reading achievement, and they have called for efforts…

During school year (SY) 2012-2013, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) continued its efforts to improve the validity and reliability of data reporting. BIE data collections are dependent on school level entry (self-reporting) into the Native American Student Information System (NASIS) or into the BIE's Academic Report (formerly the BIEs…

During SY 2011-2012, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) continued their efforts to improve the validity and reliability of data reporting. BIE data collections are dependent on school level entry (self-reporting) into the Native American Student Information System (NASIS) or into the BIE's Annual Report from the schools. In addition, data…

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of the District of Columbia's annual Race to the Top implementation. The Year 4 report for Phase 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2013 through September 2014. Given that…

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Georgia's annual Race to the Top implementation. The Year 4 report for Phase 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2013 through September 2014. To support implementation…