Assessment Resources

Of the major population groups in the United States, African Americans face the greatest educational assessment challenges. On April 3rd and 4th ETS, ACT®, the Center for Assessment, the College Board®, the Learning Policy Institute, and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine sponsored a conference entitled, "A Focus on Educational Assessment: Advancing African-American Education Excellence," to address these challenges in both the K–12 and college admissions arenas.

On March 20, LPI held the second webinar in a series that explores why deeper learning is crucial for students in today’s innovation economy and how we can achieve greater equity in access to deeper learning. This webinar explored how performance assessments are providing all students, including those who are farthest from opportunity, a vehicle to show what they know in a way that matters.

As states, districts, and schools are expanding instruction to include the competencies associated with college, career, and civic readiness, they are also developing ways to measure mastery of higher-order thinking skills. These measures include performance assessments that show what students know and can do through demonstrations of their thinking, writing, research, and products. During this briefing, speakers shared information on how performance assessments can inform teaching and learning, advance educational equity, and be used to inform the postsecondary admission, placement, and advisement process in ways that increase access.

The third webinar in LPI’s series, Achieving Equity Through Deeper Learning, explored how states are using and sharing information on deeper learning assessments. Specific projects, like the 4 State Performance Assessment Project and the State Performance Assessment Learning Community (SPA-LC), were discussed along with two major efforts underway in Washington that incorporate performance assessments in ways that engage students in three-dimensional science learning.