Testing

Help may be on the way for states and school districts struggling to make sense of what different assessments tell them about what their students know and are able to do.

The American Institutes for Research, a not-for-profit institution based in Washington, has announced the creation of the Center for Education Assessment. Archie E. Lapointe, who left his position last year as the director of the center for assessment at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., is the new center's director.

The new assessment center will be based in Washington this year, but plans are to move it to Palo...