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Interim Assessments: Keys to Successful Implementation
This brief is based on New Leaders for New Schools research and considers the potential and challenges of implementing interim assessments. The heart of the document is its list of 23 conditions the author considers important for successful implementation that will support student learning. These conditions are organized into four categories: antecedents that lay a foundation for success; the nature of the test themselves; analysis and meaning-making options; and action taken based on results.
1) Antecedents Laying the Foundations for Success
Teacher understanding and trust
Clear grade-by-grade learning expectations in every teacher’s hands
Exemplars of proficient student work
Assessments common across each grade and course
Assessments given at least quarterly
Assessments given at all grade levels
2) Assessments – Creating Highly Informative Tests
Alignment with state tests and college-ready expectations
Alignment with the curriculum sequence
Thorough but not overwhelming
High-quality test items
Diagnostic
Cumulative/year-end metric
Solving the reading dilemma
3) Analysis Scoring and Making Meaning of the Tests
User-friendly data display
Teacher scoring and analysis
Rapid turnaround
Team data meetings
Support and direction for teacher teams
SMART goals
4) Action Putting Interim Assessment Data to Work
Follow-up with students
Enlisting students in their own improvement
Information for parents and other helpers
Monitoring and follow-up by the principal
The author provides her views of the priority importance of each of these conditions for supporting student achievement and scoring system for evaluating existing systems based on these categories. Those with responsibility for implementing interim systems also may want to consider which of these conditions are important for selecting or developing the assessments (including what reports and training are available at what cost) versus those which imply essential, local infrastructure and policies and practices that need to be in place to support (for example, building trust, establishing structures, incentives, and protocols for data team meetings; communicating with parents), as well as who is responsible for each.