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Keyword: Assessment

Assessment Leadership

A comprehensive, balanced assessment system and a culture of effective evidence use do not emerge by accident. They take capable leadership to build. Assessment leadership is essential for building a comprehensive, balanced assessment system and fostering the conditions in which meaningful assessment data can be used to produce improved learning outcomes at all levels of an education system, including the classroom, school, and district. Developing this kind of assessment system requires leaders who can articulate and implement a vision and culture that supports sound assessment practices.

This brief provides district and school leaders with guidance on developing core competencies of assessment literacy to support the development and implementation of a comprehensive and balanced assessment system.

Quality Expectations and Development Considerations of Item Clusters Assessing Multidimensional Science Standards

A number of effective approaches and strategies related to the measurement of multidimensional science standards have emerged through early development efforts of large-scale assessments. This paper discusses several key considerations for designing and developing effective next generation science assessments, including an exploration of the quality expectations and development considerations that help support development.

The Two Percent Solution: Weighing Value against Burden in Statewide Standardized Assessments

In October 2015, President Obama announced an initiative to balance the use of assessments in schools. Done well and thoughtfully, assessments are tools for learning and promoting equity. They provide necessary information for educators, families, the public, and students themselves to measure progress and improve outcomes for all learners. Done poorly, in excess, or without clear purpose, assessments take valuable time away from teaching and learning, draining creative approaches from our classrooms. This session included a discussion of the President’s initiative and share existing tools and resources states and districts can use to evaluate their assessments, including key questions to guide your work. In addition, we will provide examples from states that are working to streamline their state and local assessment systems.

2015 CSAI Annual Conference: The Scores Are In, Now What?

CSAI held its annual conference on December 10–11, 2015 at WestEd’s San Francisco office. During this one-and-a-half day conference, CSAI staff and attendees discussed states’ needs regarding instruction, assessment, accountability, and communication following the 2014–15 assessments. Sessions focused on providing support for regional and content centers, and the states and regions they support, in the midst of policy and system changes.

Links to presentation materials and handouts can be found on this page.

 

Joan Herman

Coherent Assessment Systems Supporting College and Career Ready Success

Joan HermanThis session shared a framework for standards-based systems of assessment, which states and local districts can use to reduce overtesting and promote college- and career-ready success attainment.

 

Deborah Sigman

Making Sense of the New Summative Assessments

Deb Sigman

This session discussed the impact of assessment results on state systems for communications, reporting, and accountability.

 

Sujie Shin, Jessica Arnold, and Deb Sigman

Bridging the Gap Between Assessment and Improving Teaching and Learning

Deb Sigman, Sujie Shin, and Jessica Arnold

This session shared tools and resources for building teacher capacity and knowledge around developing and scoring assessment performance tasks: Building Educator Assessment Literacy, Understanding Proficiency, and Assessment Design Toolkit.

 

Nicolle Romero and Meghan Bell

Transforming Science Instruction and Assessment

Nicolle Romero and Meghan Bell

This discussion delved into the Next Generation Science Standards and provided an overview of the standards and their implications for states as they develop and evaluate science assessment options. For more information on the Science Assessment Item Collaborative, please visit the spotlight.

 

Barbara Jones and Sandy Chang

Achieving College- and Career-Ready Success with Formative Assessment

Barbara Jones and Sandy Chang

This session introduced new curriculum and instruction resources for creating and refining lessons to support CCRS success.

 

Sandy Chang

Considerations for English Language Learners

Sandy Chang

This session shared key practices and resources that teachers can use to help English learner students achieve college- and career-ready success in their classrooms.

 

Sujie Shin and Mai Chou Vang

Understanding and Responding to the Department’s Testing Action Plan and Peer Review

Sujie Shin and Mai Chou Vang

This session provided a brief overview of Peer Review Guidance and the ways content centers may be called on to support states as they prepare for submission beginning in January. The session also discussed the implications of the Testing Action Plan and shared resources and tools that can be shared with states.

 

Carole Gallagher and Deborah Sigman

The State Perspective on Revising Testing Systems

Deb Sigman and Carole Gallagher

The presenters shared their experiences working directly with states on revising testing systems and discussed lessons learned from those experiences.

 

 

CSAI Webinar: Developing a Coherent Assessment System

In this webinar from September 16, 2015, CSAI’s Joan Herman and Margaret Heritage were joined by Angela Landrum from the Colorado Department of Education to discuss the role a coherent assessment system can play in providing immediate data on how students are doing and critical information that can be used to support student achievement of college- and career-ready standards.

Scroll down for the webinar recording and downloadable materials.

Presenters

Angela Landrum, Colorado Department of Education

ANGELA LANDRUM
Colorado Department of Education

Angela Landrum discussed the vision and purpose of assessment literacy in Colorado, described her process for working with CDE staff, and introduced Colorado’s Standards-Based Assessment Framework.

Joan Herman, CSAI

JOAN HERMAN
The Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation

Why do we need coherent assessment systems, and what makes them coherent? Joan Herman reviewed the components of coherent assessment systems and discussed coherence in Colorado’s Assessment Framework.

Margaret Heritage, CSAI

MARGARET HERITAGE
The Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation

Margaret Heritage described the purpose of Professional Learning Modules and their connections to other CDE work, drawing on examples from interim assessment, formative assessment, and framework modules.

Webinar Recording

 

Associated Materials

  • Colorado’s Assessment Framework
  • Presentation Slides
  • Webinar Transcription with Slides

Developing Science and Social Studies Assessment Items

Developing assessment item sets can be more challenging than developing individual items. Good item set writing involves focusing on the alignment, clarity, and impact of the set as a whole, as well as the particulars of the individual items. By following the steps in the two presentations linked below, teachers and item writers will be able to build appropriate scaffolding that elicits evidence of student understanding.

A version of these materials was presented at the 2018 Louisiana Department of Education Leadership Summit.

Engineer Your Own Multi-Dimensional Science Assessments

This PowerPoint breaks down the steps in designing a task set for assessing multi-dimensional science standards. It defines task sets, items types, and phenomena, and incorporates a peer review step into the writing process.

 

Join the Revolution – Build Your Own Social Studies Assessments

This PowerPoint begins with the benefits of engagement in social studies and the purpose of set-based item design in measuring student progress. It lists the components of good item set writing and includes examples of prompts and responses for analysis.