Anna MaierJulie AdamsDion BurnsMaya KaulMarisa SaundersCharlie Thompson
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When used effectively, performance assessments support the development of students’ higher-order thinking skills, help improve teachers’ instructional practices, and ultimately allow students to demonstrate college and career readiness through a culminating assessment. This study examines the role districts can play in fostering their effective use and looks at lessons learned in three California districts.
Linda Darling-HammondAbby SchachnerAdam K. Edgerton Aneesha Badrinarayan Jessica CardichonPeter W. Cookson, Jr.Michael GriffithSarah KlevanAnna MaierMonica Martinez Hanna MelnickNatalie Truong Steve Wojcikiewicz
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The disruption to education caused by the pandemic presents an opportunity for policymakers and educators to seize the moment to reimagine schooling using safe, equitable, and student-centered approaches. This framework provides research, state and local examples, and policy recommendations for 10 key areas of education.
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The disruption to education presents an opportunity for policymakers and educator to seize the moment to reimagine schooling using safe, equitable, and student-centered approaches. A new, comprehensive framework by the Learning Policy Institute outlines how policymakers and education leaders can address the pressing question of how to reopen schools safely, effectively, and equitably to serve the needs of the whole child.
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COVID-19 hasn’t stopped teachers and students from engaging in powerful teaching and learning. As schools shifted to distance learning in the closing months of the 2019–20 school year, course adaptions created opportunities for students to make new discoveries about themselves and topics of interest. Through authentic projects and presentations of learning, students have demonstrated that they remain hungry for and capable of doing rigorous, meaningful work.
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Educators with the Hawaiian-focused charter schools have adapted their practices, grounded in Hawaiian culture and students’ relationship and responsibility to natural environments, to the constraints brought on by COVID-19. While nothing can replace the ocean voyages, agricultural work, and community service activities that are central elements of their “typical” school year, staff have developed new virtual ʻāina-based (land-based) activities and assessments to respond to the new reality of distance learning.
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Early data from a unique college admissions pilot program at City University of New York (CUNY) provide promising evidence on how colleges can expand admissions, better determine which students are likely to thrive, and potentially increase equity.
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All students benefit from opportunities to reflect on their learning and work. Around the country, schools are adopting portfolios, showcases, and other forms of performance assessment to help students build essential metacognitive skills. Given the disruption caused by COVID-19, these strategies can also be an effective way to bring closure and add meaning to a tumultuous school year.
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Students applying to some New England colleges and universities have seen a new option on their application forms allowing them to submit performance assessment artifacts. The option is made possible through a national initiative, Reimagining College Access (RCA), that brings together more than 100 education organizations, k-12 school systems, and colleges and universities.
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Teachers and district leaders are leveraging performance assessments to provide students with opportunities to explore interests and issues of their own choosing as they show what they know and are able to do. These authentic assessments create structures and processes for students to bring their full selves to the learning, creating culturally relevant and context-rich projects that can also address community concerns.
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Historically, U.S. schools have been rated based largely on student performance on an annual summative test. With the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), state accountability systems now feature additional measures of student and school success, including academic growth. These factors are critical if we are to create accountability systems that recognize the contributions that schools make to student progress, while reducing bias against educators and schools serving students in diverse, high-poverty communities.
