California is in the midst of a fundamental remaking of its assessment and accountability system that has been in place for 15 years. The state has the opportunity to play a leadership role in developing a multi-faceted assessment and accountability system that goes beyond a narrow focus on test scores and that could be a model for the nation. The…

In 2012, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges adopted recommendations from the legislatively mandated Student Success Task Force. They included a recommendation that California's community colleges develop "diagnostic" assessments for use across the system. These would provide detailed information about each…

"Stress factor" is defined as any internal or external influence that makes it more difficult for a school or district to carry out its basic mission of providing a high quality education to all its students, as well as to ensure that its students succeed on state and federal accountability measures. This report identifies 11 such stress…