Measured Progress, AdvancED merge
Bringing together student assessment and school quality measures, two of the nation's leading education nonprofits are merging.
Getting more out of mathematics assessment
Rigorous college and career readiness (CCR) standards for English language arts and mathematics, and complex science standards (such as the Next Generation Science Standards, NGSS*), sharpen educators’ focus on what students should know and be able to do. In all these content areas, the standards outline complex expectations that call for integration of multiple dimensions.
And we’re sharing our enthusiasm at NCSA 2018 in San Diego!
Many of you may be familiar with the National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA) sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The major conference on K–12 educational assessment, it’s been taking place for more than 45 years. And since our company’s founding almost 35 years ago, we’ve taken an active part in the conference, as presenters and as an exhibitor and sponsor. The conference will take place in San Diego this year, from June 27 to June 29.
Authentic, multi-dimensional ELA assessments
Rigorous 21st-century standards for K–12 education—such as college and career readiness standards for ELA and math, and complex science standards—sharpen educators’ focus on what students should know and be able to do. While it’s not unusual for states to adopt new curriculum standards, what’s new over the past decade is the push toward integration of multiple dimensions in all these content areas.
Over the last decade, expectations of statewide tests have gotten a little out of hand. As Measured Progress founder Stuart Kahl facetiously puts it, politicians and policy makers want nothing less than “a single, summative, formative, adaptive, diagnostic, general achievement test that measures growth and yields immediate results that teachers can use right away to modify their instruction.” A single assessment of this kind surely doesn’t exist, but Dr. Kahl explores ways to approach that ambitious goal in a recent white paper, “How can state assessments better test deeper learning? Three models that can work.” Given states’ ongoing work to meet ESSA requirements and introduce innovation in their assessment systems, it’s a good time to consider new approaches. Read on for a few highlights from the paper.
The topic of college and career readiness is broad and deep, but a generally accepted definition of being ready for college and career is that students graduate from high school prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary opportunities—whether college or the workforce—without the need for remediation. Others—such as these from Achieve, the Redefining Ready campaign, ACTE, the Association for Career and Technical Education, and Inflexion—include additional nuance.
Delivering high-quality assessments that provide evidence of student understanding can be a challenge, especially when time and resources are stretched thin. Accurate and relevant assessments that help inform future instruction require a rigorous development process with several levels of review, but often district staff members simply don’t have that time and expertise. So, can you ensure quality assessments—even if they’re created quickly, with limited resources?
School districts adopt a range of assessments in their balanced assessment systems. Some assessments are meant specifically to support learning—to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses, help teachers plan instruction, and evaluate the effectiveness of curricula. Others are meant to predict future performance or accomplish other goals. To help educators and professionals get on common ground with terminology, we’ve explored the definitions and purpose of interim and benchmark assessments. Now we offer a new video to add to our collective understanding of these district-level assessments.