Conceptually, learning progressions hold promise for improving assessment and instruction by precisely outlining what students know and don't know at particular stages of knowledge and skill development. Based upon a synthesis of the literature, a rationale for the use of learning progressions maps to clarify how learning progresses in English…

Background/Context: The evolution of validity understandings from mid-century to now has emphasized that test validity depends on test purpose--adding consequence considerations to issues of interpretation and evidentiary warrants. Purpose: To consider the tensions created by multiple purposes for assessment and sketch briefly how we got to where…

Meritocracy functions in Singapore as the key principle of governance and educational distribution. However, the concept of meritocracy itself contains a number of inherent contradictions, most evidently witnessed in the tension between its egalitarian and elitist strands. This tension is documented in the recommendations of Singapore's recent…

In most parts of America, teachers will soon be experiencing evaluative scrutiny far more intense than anything they've ever known. This recent ratcheting up of teacher appraisals can be traced directly to a pair of federal initiatives that have enticed educational officials in nearly every state to shape up--and also toughen up--their state's…

This dissertation details the use of the Program Evaluations Metaevaluation Checklist (PEMC), Stufflebeam, 1999, which is for performing final, summative metaevaluations. It is organized according to the Joint Committee Program Evaluation Standards. For each of the 30 standards the checklist includes 6 checkpoints drawn from the substance of the…

Within the recognized tensions between statewide testing and the process of teaching and learning, formative assessment's potential for improving student learning and for shedding light "inside the black box," has received increased attention from scholars in different countries. In their critical review, Dunn & Mulvenon (2009)…

Lee Cronbach once expressed the view that all roads lead to construct validity. In looking to clarify the consensus definition of validity, and its place in assessment, Newton is also led to the troublesome idea of construct validity. To be sure, he addresses other validity issues, but in this commentary, I will restrict my attention to construct…

Over the previous two decades, the era of accountability has amplified efforts to measure educational effectiveness more than Edward Thorndike, the father of educational measurement, likely would have imagined. Expressly, the measurement structure for evaluating educational effectiveness continues to rely increasingly on one sole…

Large-scale assessment (LSA) is a tool used by education authorities for several purposes, including the promotion of teacher-based instructional change. In Canada, all 10 provinces engage in large-scale testing across several grade levels and subjects, and also have the common expectation that the results data will be used to improve instruction…

We conducted a 3-year study to determine what could be learned from the efforts of social studies teachers to navigate the current culture of reform and accountability. Data were drawn from 50 in-depth interviews and 425 surveys completed by P-12 teachers throughout the state. We employed critical social theory to frame the study and interpret the…

Since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, state teams have been preparing their state plans aligned with ESSA for submission in April or September 2017 to the U.S. Department of Education. Because ESSA lands much of the decision-making and responsibility in education at the state and local levels, state education leaders…

Education is pivotal to a better life for many individuals. Unfortunately, a large number of adolescents in poverty fail to complete high school; thereby limiting their opportunities for better employment options. However, there are adolescents who live in poverty and successfully complete high school, despite the adversities. This study, using…

As the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is implemented, the Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) has received queries regarding accountability requirements, particularly in regard to reporting data for subgroups of students. CSAI recently sought to answer this latter question by reviewing the ESSA. Additionally, CSAI reviewed…

In the spring of 2015, many states began administering new state assessments designed to measure students' mastery of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics and English language arts (ELA). This was the first wide-scale assessment of student mastery of the Common Core. For some states, it was also the first time that state math and…

This annual survey--developed and reported by EdChoice and interviews conducted by our partner, Braun Research, Inc.--measures public opinion and awareness on a range of K-12 education topics, including parents' schooling preferences, educational choice policies, the federal government's role in education and more. We report response levels,…