This article offers a commentary on the Common Core State Standards, which were developed by a talented and well-resourced team, and are purported to be of higher quality than many former or existing state standards. However, according to this author, Common Core has become much more than the standards themselves; they are the foundational element…

As assessment becomes an ever more critical facet of higher education, it is apparent that some faculty do not always value assessment (Crossley & Wang, 2010; Ebersole, 2009). Further, faculty may react with resistance, particularly when they perceive that assessment is being imposed upon them from external sources (Crossley & Wang, 2010;…

Assessment in education is a recent phenomenon. Although there were counterparts in former epochs, the term assessment only began to be spoken about in education after the Second World War; and, since that time, views, strategies and concerns over assessment have proliferated according to an uncomfortable dynamic. We fear that, increasingly,…

This article summarizes major points about the transformation of educational assessment that emerged from the work of Gordon Commission and it presents recommendations to different stakeholders as to needed changes in policy, practice, and research and development.

An essential component in school accountability efforts is for assessments to be well-aligned with the standards or curriculum they are intended to measure. However, relatively little prior research has explored methods to determine statistical significance of alignment or misalignment. This study explores analyses of alignment as a special case…

Use of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is increasing across the United States as an important indicator of the quality of programs for young children. Professional development is required to facilitate teachers' understanding of the instructional behaviors upon which they will be judged. This study investigated the use of the…

This article traces the development of a new National Curriculum in England following the general election of 2010. The prevailing political ideology of an approach based on securing "core knowledge" in a limited range of preferred "academic" subjects and its deleterious impact on the arts in schools is described. The vigorous…

Studies have shown that teachers' beliefs influence their assessment practices. However, the overarching framework of those beliefs in relation to teachers' classroom assessment confidence has been largely unexamined. This research explored teachers' conceptions of assessment and their confidence regarding the implementation of sound classroom…

This article summarizes assessment of cognitive skills through collaborative tasks, using field test results from the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S) project. This project, sponsored by Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft, aims to help educators around the world enable students with the skills to succeed in future career and…

Assessments come in many forms in part because they serve many purposes, and those purposes often vary by the stakeholders they support. Students, parents, teachers, and school, district and state leaders may all be end users of the information provided by various assessments. This brief supports state leaders' understanding of assessments by…

Arizona's First Things First partners with other agencies to create a high-quality, family-centered, comprehensive, and collaborative early childhood system that supports the development, health, and early education of all Arizona's children through age 5, helping ensure they enter kindergarten healthy and ready to succeed. One of First Things…

The future of Greece's well-being will depend on improving educational performance to raise employment and social outcomes. The challenges are significant, as public education expenditure in Greece has declined in recent years and learning outcomes are weak. To help the Greek government address these challenges, this report proposes a set of…

In December 2015, the U.S. Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and, with it, ushered in a new era of education policy in America. Leaving behind many of the most criticized aspects of its predecessor, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), this newest incarnation of the primary federal legislation guiding K-12 education provides state and…

Assessing the quality of included studies is a vital step in undertaking a systematic review. The recently revised Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) tool (QUADAS-2), which is the only validated quality assessment tool for diagnostic accuracy studies, does not include specific criteria for assessing comparative studies. As…

International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have been used to draw comparisons among countries on a variety of topics in education and, more broadly, for example, in adolescent development. These assessments can inform the public about influential factors on the micro and macro levels, foster interdisciplinary and international collaboration,…