Assessment Literacy

“Assessment literacy is defined as the knowledge about how to assess what students know and can do, interpret the results of these assessments, and apply these results to improve student learning and program effectiveness.”

— Norman L. Webb*

The Challenge

Everyone in an educational system needs evidence of learning to make important decisions to improve student outcomes—educators use evidence to guide immediate learning steps and measure individual progress, and administrators use evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and policies. To achieve these goals, everyone in the system must develop assessment literacy to understand assessment tools and their roles in learning systems.

What We Do

We collaborate with assessment leaders and educators to offer in-person, virtual, and hybrid professional learning opportunities. These programs provide the skills needed to choose and create high-quality assessment tools and strategies, and to understand and use the information these assessments provide.

Project

Making the Most of Performance Tasks in Summative Assessment: Building Educator Assessment Literacy in Oregon

We helped educators in Oregon learn about the design of new performance tasks, score student responses, and examine how their new understanding could lead to better classroom learning. This paper on the impact of the BEAL project features survey responses and profiles of four district and school personnel.

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Project

Los Angeles County Office of Education Performance Task Development Project: A Case Study

We designed and delivered workshops to the Los Angeles County Office of Education to help teachers develop and use standards-aligned assessments as part of a continuous improvement cycle. This case study of the Performance Task Development Project describes what teachers, administrators, and staff gained from participating.

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Components of a Coherent and Equitable Assessment System

This resource explains the purpose and use of different assessment tools, emphasizing the need for shared understanding to ensure they effectively support teaching and learning decisions.

Explore Resource

“WestEd’s knowledge and expertise in high-quality assessment design, particularly in the realm of performance assessment, is unparalleled. . . .WestEd employs effective strategies to support educators in developing and refining performance assessments, emphasizing the importance of building strong upfront schemas, providing strategic and constructive feedback, and facilitating learning through field tests and analysis of student work.”
— Jessica Conkle, Director of Curriculum and Instructional Services, Los Angeles County Office of Education

Request Help With Assessment Literacy

*Webb, N. L. (2002, April). Assessment literacy in a standards-based education setting (Working paper). University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Center for Education Research. https://wcer.wisc.edu/docs/working-papers/Working_Paper_No_2002_4.pdf