Next Generation Accountability: Creating Performance Frameworks for Student Success

Posted on February 15, 2023February 12, 2023 by coreeducation

A new issue brief from Aurora Institute explores how policymakers can approach rethinking, redesigning, and rearchitecting next generation accountability systems. Next generation accountability systems can empower states, districts, communities, and schools with timely, relevant information and provide the capacity to analyze and continuously improve instruction and learning. Continuously improving education systems use evidence-based practices and Read more about Next Generation Accountability: Creating Performance Frameworks for Student Success[…]

From Pandemic to Progress: Eight Education Pathways for COVID-19 Recovery

Posted on February 24, 2021February 22, 2021 by coreeducation

COVID-19 has presented new challenges for schools and families to grapple with when it comes to student learning — but the pandemic also has illuminated shortcomings and missed opportunities that have long been present in our education system. A new series of briefs from Bellwether offers guidance on how the education sector can recenter and Read more about From Pandemic to Progress: Eight Education Pathways for COVID-19 Recovery[…]

The Return: How Should Education Leaders Prepare for Reentry and Beyond?

Posted on May 27, 2020May 26, 2020 by coreeducation

The Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and Chiefs for Change released a report that outlines relevant research and provides key recommendations for reopening K-12 schools when public health officials deem it is safe to do so. A bipartisan network of state and district education leaders, Chiefs for Change, turned to the Institute for its Read more about The Return: How Should Education Leaders Prepare for Reentry and Beyond?[…]

Boosting Learner Agency with Student Self-Assessment

Posted on January 28, 2020January 27, 2020 by coreeducation

Writing for KnowledgeWorks, Sarah Pazur reports on the results of a program to increase learner agency through self-assessment in FlexTech High Schools. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Teachers who leverage the power of self-assessment can significantly raise student achievement by teaching students self-regulatory processes. At FlexTech High Schools in Michigan, educators piloted three tools Read more about Boosting Learner Agency with Student Self-Assessment[…]

The Research Base for Formative Assessment

Posted on August 1, 2018July 30, 2018 by coreeducation

Mary Ryerse and Susan Brookhart, writing for Getting Smart, recently analyzed the research base for formative assessment. Excerpts from their piece appear below: The original research base on formative assessment is most typically traced back to the 1998 publication Assessment and Classroom Learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998), the first widely cited review of literature on Read more about The Research Base for Formative Assessment[…]

What Predicts College Completion? High School GPA Beats SAT Score

Posted on July 12, 2018March 3, 2020 by coreeducation

Preston Cooper, writing for Forbes, has reviewed a new article by Matthew Chingos of the Urban Institute that finds high school GPA to be a better predictor of college completion than SAT score. For excerpts from the article, see below: For obvious reasons, students who exhibit better academic preparation in high school are more likely Read more about What Predicts College Completion? High School GPA Beats SAT Score[…]

Achieve: Do not use SAT or ACT as state summative assessment

Posted on June 12, 2018June 10, 2018 by coreeducation

Achieve released a new brief warning against the use of ACT or SAT exams as the summative high school assessment for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. Achieve highlighted three reviews of these tests, looking at their alignment to states’ college- and career-ready academic standards and how using the tests for accountability would impact students, Read more about Achieve: Do not use SAT or ACT as state summative assessment[…]

50-State Comparison: State Summative Assessments

Posted on June 7, 2018June 4, 2018 by coreeducation

The Education Commission of the States’ Comparison on State Summative Assessments was just updated and now includes information on the assessments that each state is using to meet federal requirements in 2017-18. As a condition of receiving federal funds, the Every Student Succeeds Act requires state education agencies to implement statewide assessments in mathematics and Read more about 50-State Comparison: State Summative Assessments[…]

Ten Principles of Building High-Quality Systems of Assessment

Posted on March 7, 2018March 1, 2018 by coreeducation

How do state and district leaders cut through the clutter to make decisions on assessments for student success? Finally, there is unprecedented support on how to answer this question with the release of Ten Principles for Building a High-Quality System of Assessments, a collaborative effort led by Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national nonprofit Read more about Ten Principles of Building High-Quality Systems of Assessment[…]

What’s Working in America’s Public Schools

Posted on February 28, 2018February 23, 2018 by coreeducation

Earlier this month, John White, Louisiana state superintendent of education and board chair of Chiefs for Change, wrote a piece for the Washington Post that explored the progress made in America’s public schools over the past decade. Excerpts appear below: On the extremes of the right and the left, there is a growing desire to Read more about What’s Working in America’s Public Schools[…]

February Issue Brief: Performance Assessment

Posted on February 27, 2018February 23, 2018 by coreeducation

Educators seeking to measure student attainment of 21st century skills and deeper learning are increasingly looking to performance assessment as a way to assess student performance meaningfully. ESSA’s innovative testing pilot and new test-optional college admissions policies are removing roadblocks that once stood in the way of widescale adoption of performance assessment. In this month’s Read more about February Issue Brief: Performance Assessment[…]

The Promise of Performance Assessments

Posted on February 5, 2018February 1, 2018 by coreeducation

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 these deeper learning and higher-order thinking skills. These measures include performance assessments, such as portfolios, capstone projects, and senior defenses, alongside classroom performance. Meanwhile, more than 900 Read more about The Promise of Performance Assessments[…]

10 Evidence-Based Policies and Practices for Assessment

Posted on December 20, 2017December 15, 2017 by coreeducation

The Meadows Center at the University of Texas at Austin has released a piece outlining 10 evidence-based policies and practices for high-quality assessment in schools, along with the research supporting them. These policies/practices include the following: School leadership ensures that teachers have a shared understanding of the curriculum and standards across the grades. Schools use Read more about 10 Evidence-Based Policies and Practices for Assessment[…]

School Districts where Students Learn Most

Posted on December 19, 2017December 15, 2017 by coreeducation

New data from researchers at Stanford, based on some 300 million elementary-school test scores across more than 11,000 school districts, reveals the school districts where children are showing the most growth. The results do not follow conventional wisdom. Districts with high growth are scattered across the country, in contrast with sharp geographic divisions on proficiency Read more about School Districts where Students Learn Most[…]

Performance Assessment: Fostering the Learning of Teachers and Students

Posted on August 14, 2017July 29, 2017 by coreeducation

The Annenberg Institute’s new issue of VUE, Performance Assessment: Fostering the Learning of Teachers and Students proposes an alternative to standardized testing, based on a performance assessment approach, which is personalized and rigorous, and improves teaching and learning – thereby benefiting both students and teachers. Against a backdrop of the opportunities provided by the Every Read more about Performance Assessment: Fostering the Learning of Teachers and Students[…]