Center for Standards, Assessment, and Accountability

Subject Area: English Language Arts

Spring 2021 Performance on Three Locally Determined Assessments in California

As part of the technical assistance provided by the Region 15 Comprehensive Center at WestEd (R15 CC) to the California State Board of Education (SBE) and California Department of Education (CDE) staff, a request was made to the R15 CC to gather data from three selected testing publishers that had supported the administration of spring […]

K–2 Assessment Systems Enable Early Intervention to Foster Student Success

Across the United States, statewide assessments in English language arts and mathematics are federally mandated each school year in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. The intent is to help educators, policymakers, and parents directly gauge how students and their school systems are performing against state standards. Missing nationwide, however, is any […]

How School Administrators Can Support and Promote Formative Assessment

Reflecting on the How I Know initiative in the Dallas Independent School District, Susan Villani writes about her work with administrators and educators to implement formative assessment practices into school cultures and practices. In this article, Villani focuses on the most powerful strategies that school administrators utilized to support implementation of formative assessment practices into […]

Academic Achievement through Student Agency: Dallas ISD’s Journey

In 2017, Ben Milam Elementary in the Dallas Independent School District (ISD) engaged in structural work to promote agency, equity, and academic achievement for all its students. This work prompted school leaders to ask themselves: How can all students be both learners and leaders at our school? How can students better support and learn from […]

Lessons Learned About Leading the Implementation of Formative Assessment: A Framework for School Leaders and Leadership Teams

When teachers and students share the responsibility for learning, students become active agents in their own learning who respond to feedback, set learning goals, track their progress, and adapt their own learning strategies when needed. Formative assessment provides a clear path forward to this kind of teaching and learning experience, and site leadership is critical […]