This report outlines the approaches that state education agencies (SEAs) have taken in defining and using formative assessment practices, including practices to explicitly support students with disabilities. At the state level, there have been efforts to develop or adopt formal definitions of formative assessment practices that guide how these…

The Smarter Balanced Assessment System consists of three components: (1) interim assessments designed to support teaching and learning throughout the year; (2) a suite of tools and resources in Tools for Teachers that support classroom-based formative assessment practices; and (3) end-of-year summative assessments designed for accountability…

We evaluate the predictive validity of the Massachusetts Candidate Assessment of Performance (CAP), a practice-based assessment of teaching skills that is typically taken during a candidate's student teaching placement and is a requirement for teacher preparation program completion in Massachusetts. We find that candidates' performance on the CAP…

This clear, no-nonsense book guides current and future teachers through the concepts, tools, methods, and goals of classroom literacy assessment. The expert authors examine the roles of formative, summative, and benchmark assessments; demystify state and national tests and standards; and show how assessment can seamlessly inform instruction.…

Across the country, states and districts are designing principal evaluation systems as a means of improving leadership, learning, and school performance. Principal evaluation systems hold potential for supporting leaders' learning and sense of accountability for instructional excellence and student performance. Principal evaluation also is an…

Math in Common® (MiC) is a five-year initiative that supports a formal network of 10 California school districts as they implement the Common Core State Standards in mathematics (CCSS-M) across grades K-8. As the MiC initiative moves into its second year, one of the central activities that each of the districts is undergoing to support CCSS…

It's true that state standards often have way too much content and aren't written in a way that enhances classroom instruction and formative assessment. That's why this guide is invaluable for any educator who wants to ensure that standards actually lead to higher student achievement. The authors give you good reasons for why some content…

This article features FAST-R, or Formative Assessments of Student Thinking in Reading, a new assessment tool that measures critical-reading skills. FAST-R was developed by the the nonprofit Boston Plan for Excellence (BPE), a local education foundation, to provide teachers with information about what students are thinking when they try to find…

Testing students once a year, with data reported many months later, is like using an autopsy to determine how to help a patient, says Cindy Ambrose, chief academic officer of the Horry County Schools in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In Horry County and many other districts around the country, assessment that monitors vital signs on an ongoing…

Presented at the National Conference on Student Assessment in Orlando, hosted by the CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers), June 2008. This presentation explores use of the assessments within the classroom and how those choices can affect performance and learning.

This report presents Iowa's performance indicators of program quality in adult basic education (ABE) programs and describes the process by which they were developed. The performance indicators fulfill the mandate of the National Literacy Act of 1991 to serve as indicators of program quality. They were developed through a comprehensive process that…

A plan for educational assessment is presented which focuses upon three interdependent aspects of a management control system: input, process, and output. Input encompasses the provision, allocation, and assignment of resources, both human and material; process concerns the application and utilization of these resources in ways that will produce…

This report evaluates the Quality Education Initiative (QEI) evaluation system developed in Pennsylvania to monitor and report progress of individual programs or sites serving students with and without disabilities. The system has three parts: a Program Documentation Outline (PDO), a Program Reporting Outline (PRO), and a Program Improvement…

This study investigates relationships between teachers' receipt of high-stakes test score results of their students and subsequent changes in instructional and classroom assessment practices the following year. The sample consisted of 722 elementary, middle, and high school teachers. The results indicate that most teachers reported using the…

This document presents profiles of the state education agency (SEA) program monitoring systems in the 58 states and jurisdictions receiving funds under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The first section includes an overview of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) compliance monitoring review system is provided.…