Center for Standards, Assessment, and Accountability

Grade Level: Early Learning

Formative Assessment: Examples of Practice

This document shares some examples of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) definition of formative assessment in practice. The first section of the document provides readers with vignettes of classroom scenarios, some showing formative assessment and others showing classrooms without formative assessment. Each vignette also includes an analysis of how formative assessment was or was not […]

Attributes of Effective Formative Assessment

From the resource: “This document presents the definition of formative assessment and identifies and explains the five attributes of effective formative assessment. One key feature of this definition is its requirement that formative assessment be regarded as a process rather than a particular kind of assessment. In other words, there is no such thing as […]

Early Literacy Instruction in Dual Language Preschools (Spanish/English)

This resource provides an overview of effective, research-based instructional models for preschools teaching Spanish and English. The author provides a brief summary of recent research, guidelines for instruction, and specific details about the similarities and differences of Spanish and English to help educators consider ways to support transference of compatible skills. Included in this resource […]

Selecting Text tool

The Selecting Text Tool, also found in the close reading resource, guides teachers in the process of selecting texts that provide appropriate levels of challenge for their students. Factors to consider include: age appropriateness, student interest level, complexity of ideas, text and sentence structure, vocabulary difficulty, and length of the text. For more detailed information, […]

Close Reading Text Cover Sheet

The Text Cover Sheet provides a space for teachers to analyze a text, then identify and record for instructional purposes (1) the standards addressed; (2) reading purposes and text content; and (3) text and language challenges and connections. It accompanies the resource Supporting Students in Close Reading. As a Word version, teachers can fill it out electronically.

Knowing the Score: The Who, What, and Why of Testing

This brief provides information about K-12 testing with the goal of helping parents, educators, policymakers, and others make decisions about testing policies in their community and state. Background information is provided, as well as answers to common questions about K-12 testing, including the following: 1. What basic facts about tests are important to understand? 2. […]