Forum on Educational Accountability

Assessment and ESEA

Reauthorization

FEA Framework: The Federal Role

• Opportunity to Learn (OTL)

• Assessment

• Evaluation and Accountability

• Improvement

Note: FEA has taken no stance on common core standards.

Purposes of Education

• Educate the whole child• Successful citizenship in a multicultural

world• Basic and higher-order content knowledge

and thinking skills plus creativityWhich requires:• High-quality, equitably supported schools• Individualized attention for each child• Many ways to thrive: standards without

standardization

Assessment Purposes

• Improve instruction and learning - assessment as, for and of learning

• Inform school improvement and part of school improvement

• Part of evaluation

• Reporting and accountability

Major Testing Problems Under NCLB

• High stakes accountability sanctions based on one-shot, on-demand, large-scale tests that focus on rote, lower-level learning

• Teaching to the test (current ‘interim’ tests)• Narrowing the curriculum• Pushing students out to raise scores• Gaming the results – inflated scores• Increased testing to prepare for the big test• De-professionalization of teachers

FEA Assessment Plan

Federal Help to States and Districts to Construct

Assessment Systems

That Include These Components:

Performance Assessments

Evaluate complex thinking and the ability to apply knowledge

Allow students multiple ways to demonstrate their knowledge

Connect to real-world problems, issues, ways of thinking and doing

Guide students toward deeper understanding

Performance Assessments (2)

From short tasks to extended projects Teachers help design them Some are reviewed, approved, and

‘banked’ to be used when teachers deem appropriate

Electronic platforms as appropriate

Performance Assessments (3)

Performance assessments can be instructionally valuable & incorporate assessment for learning opportunities (interwoven instruction and assessment)

Some could be used as on-demand, large-scale assessment tasks

Can be used as part of summative evaluations or accountability

Local Assessments and Classroom-

Based Evidence of Student Learning • For teaching, learning, and reporting on

students: formative, interim, summative• Best evidence of student learning is from

ongoing student work (samples, portfolios; see http://www.fairtest.org/learning-record)

• In and across subject areas• Use in evaluation and accountability of

educators, schools, districts - pilot projects• Rescoring/moderation procedures to address

comparability: uncommon tasks proving evidence on common goals

Local Assessments and Classroom-Based Evidence of Student Learning (2)

• Report annually using local and large-scale evidence

• Nebraska developed a local assessment system for accountability

• Other nations use school or classroom-based evidence in evaluations

• New York Performance Standards Consortium – summative and interim performance assessments

Limited Large-Scale Testing

• Accountability assessing in only selected grades (e.g., 4-8-10; every other year)

• Large-scale test data as one component of assessment information used for accountability and system improvement

• Sampling

• Improve NAEP

Assessments that Meet the Needsof all Learners

• English Language Learners• Students with Disabilities• ‘Cultural’ diversity (race, ethnicity,

geography…)• Universal Design • Address specific needs of diverse groups• Multiple sources of evidence• Report by groups - disaggregate

Measure Growth Using Multiple Sources of Evidence

• Current ‘value added’ not ready for high stakes uses – BOTA

• FEA supports use of status, improvement (groups) and growth (individuals)

• Use multiple sources of evidence of student learning for all of these

• It is technically feasible

Professional Development

• Collaborative, school-based (e.g., NSDC)• Strengthen teacher capacity to assess well• Assessment for and of learning• Constructing performance assessments• Using performance assessments• Scoring assessments collaboratively• Using assessment information for school

improvement

Trust but Verify

• Teachers as skilled professionals: pre-service training, professional learning

• Evaluate teachers on a full range of professional requirements, using multiple, varied sources of evidence

• Use moderation, triangulation and similar processes to evaluate schools and districts

• Use assessment data in school-based, educator-led improvement efforts

In Conclusion: Federal Role

• Support performance assessments• Support local assessments (formative;

classroom-based)• Require limited large-scale testing• Promote assessing that meets needs of all

learners• Require growth models to use multiple

sources of evidence• Fund, promote and guide professional

development• Help states develop systems based on “Trust

but verify”

Forum on Educational Accountability

www.edaccountability.org

See Joint Statement, Empowering Schools and backup reports