Forum on Educational Accountability

1. Forum on Educational Accountability Assessment and ESEA Reauthorization

2. FEA Framework: The Federal Role • Opportunity to Learn (OTL) • Assessment • Evaluation and Accountability • Improvement Note: FEA has taken no stance on common core standards.

3. Purposes of Education • Educate the whole child • Successful citizenship in a multicultural world • Basic and higher-order content knowledge and thinking skills plus creativity Which requires: • High-quality, equitably supported schools • Individualized attention for each child • Many ways to thrive: standards without standardization

4. 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

5. 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

6. FEA Assessment Plan Federal Help to States and Districts to Construct Assessment Systems That Include These Components:

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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”

18. Forum on Educational Accountability www.edaccountability.org See Joint Statement, Empowering Schools and backup reports