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The decisions states make regarding what their assessments look like and what kind of information they produce inevitably shape instruction and students’ learning experiences. Many state leaders are considering how to create instructionally relevant assessments with a positive instructional impact.
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Since the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, state assessments have prioritized easily generated, comparable scores, often at the expense of teaching and learning. States looking to improve assessments can draw from those that have redesigned systems to align with research on student learning and student-centered instruction.
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Teaching performance assessments (TPAs) are used by many states to assess candidates’ classroom readiness—a critical mission for preparation programs and the state agencies that approve programs and set licensure standards. Understanding the relationship between preparation experiences and TPA success can inform programmatic and policy decisions.
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Thoughtful improvements and support of teaching performance assessments has the potential to strengthen preparation statewide and increase the readiness of the state’s teaching candidates as they enter the classroom.
Aneesha Badrinarayan Linda Darling-HammondMichael A. DiNapoli Jr.Tara KiniTiffany MillerJulie Woods
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While the Every Student Succeeds Act presented promising possibilities for innovative state assessments, the path to realizing these opportunities has proven cumbersome and restrictive. Several possible federal executive actions could better enable states to design assessment systems that support deeper learning.
Aneesha Badrinarayan Linda Darling-HammondMichael A. DiNapoli Jr.Tara KiniTiffany MillerJulie Woods
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The Every Student Succeeds Act presented new possibilities for innovative state assessments that support deeper learning; however, constraints have limited states’ abilities to fully realize such opportunities. Federal executive actions that offer time, support, and permission to innovate could encourage assessment systems that bolster high-quality teaching and learning.
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Performance assessments provide students with authentic ways to demonstrate learning, cultivate academic knowledge and 21st-century skills, and prepare for college-level work. School, district, and network leaders should use quality criteria to examine their performance-based assessment policies and structures to foster deeper learning for all students.
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In this issue of the Reimagining College Access Newsletter: a new Complete College America report on the use of k–12 performance assessments in college advising and placement, RCA presentations at upcoming national conferences, and a newly released College Completion Strategy Guide offers direction on evidence-based strategies to advance equitable outcomes for college students.
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Because performance assessments surface examples of how students use their academic and nonacademic learning in authentic situations, they can help admission officers at higher education institutions more fully understand applicants. But a college’s abilities to effectively use reliable evidence of student learning in the admission process depends on how they frame the “ask” for these materials.
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In this issue of the Reimagining College Access Newsletter: an upcoming RCA publication, the use of k–12 performance assessments to inform college advising and placement, and recommendations for advancing equity in college admission.
