After passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, states assumed greater responsibility for designing their own accountability and assessment systems. ESSA requires states to measure "higher order thinking skills and understanding" and encourages the use of open-ended performance assessments, which are essential for…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) opened up new possibilities for how student and school success are defined and supported in American public education. States have greater responsibility for designing and building their assessment and accountability systems. These new opportunities to develop performance assessments are critically important…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were created in response to the shortcomings of No Child Left Behind era standards and assessments. Among those failings were the poor quality of content standards and assessments and the variability in content expectations and proficiency targets across states, as well as concerns related to the economic…

This letter is an interim response to the October 7, 1991 request from the Committee on Education and Labor and the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education of the House of Representatives asking for a review of the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) achievement levels for the National Assessment of Educational…

In 1988, whether the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--the "Nation's Report Card"--could become a report card for the states was studied. A trial assessment program was authorized to determine whether state assessments following the NAEP format could produce reliable and useful estimates of educational progress. This…