Summative assessments measure students' mastery of grade-level academic standards and skills in specific content areas after learning. State summative assessment systems provide students and families, school and district leaders, and state policymakers with valuable data to help understand student progress and school quality. This Policy Guide…

This article presents a conceptual framework for trust in standardised assessments. Standardised assessments play an important role in many education systems as they inform decisions about students' future schooling career or entry to the labour market. Also, standardised assessments are often used for teacher performance reviews and school…

The expansion of student opportunity through the flexible spending of Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) builds in direct accountability to the parents who choose and hold the power of the purse. Families can select different schools and service providers if they are dissatisfied with how their student is faring. But ESAs can also be designed…

The present study is related to the problem associated with student assessment with online examinations at higher educational institutes (HEIs). With the current COVID-19 outbreak, the majority of educational institutes are conducting online examinations to assess their students, where there would always be a chance that the students go for…

A simple act of motivation priming can significantly impact the validity of test results, which is crucial for institutional accountability. The progression of the studies discussed in this article illustrates a clear trajectory of building upon previous findings to refine and expand the understanding of motivation priming when gathering…

Educational equity is understood as the recognition of a school system to ensure resources to safeguard that all students have equitable access, opportunity, and outcomes (Galloway & Ishimaru, 2015). Yet inequity persists in the American educational system. School accountability remains at the forefront of education policy to ensure equitable…

The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) recognizes the important role standardized and other student assessments play in documenting education accountability, and in ensuring sound educational decisions are made toward achieving the highest possible academic standards for all students. CEC is committed to ensuring students with special learning…

One of the main aims of national assessment programmes is to improve the efficacy of education systems; realizing this aim often takes the form of implementing a variety of accountability measures. Using assessment results for accountability purposes is highly controversial, while one of its undesirable impacts is that it generates negative…

For assessment professionals who are also automated scoring (AS) professionals, there is no single set of standards of best practice. This paper reviews the assessment and AS literature to identify key standards of best practice and ethical behavior for AS professionals and codifies those standards in a single resource. Having a unified set of AS…

From uneven digital access and growing academic gaps to reports of students missing or disengaged since March 2020, it is evident that English Learners (ELs) have endured some of the pandemic's gravest impacts on students across the United States. But because the pandemic has affected state assessment systems as well as instruction, it is…

This technical assistance paper provides policy and guidance to individuals with test administration responsibilities in adult education programs. The Florida assessment policies and guidelines presented in this technical assessment paper are appropriate for state and federal reporting. Therefore, guidance and procedures regarding the selection…

As educators confront the challenge of remediating COVID-19 learning loss--and policymakers wrestle with measuring it amid widespread discontent with testing--now is an apt time to consider how much of the current accountability and assessment regime is truly necessary. This report examines the state of testing post-March 2020 and explores how a…

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the topic of assessing students who use two or more languages in their daily life. The book provides foundational information for assessing multilingual learners (MLs) in schools, with an emphasis on school language and content. Major assessment ideas are viewed through a framework called PUMI (Purpose,…

According to Lorrie A. Shepard, claims that testing will serve equity very often are not true. From minimum competency tests in the '70s; basic-skills tests in the '80s; "tests worth teaching to" in the '90s; high-frequency, high-stakes tests in the '00s; and added layers of commercial interim tests in the '10s, it seems it has…

This brief is part of a four-part series examining the past, present, and future of modern school accountability systems. With the dual forces of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national call to action on racial inequity, the question of how we should measure and hold schools accountable for the impact they have on students is more urgent than ever.…